SOUTHSIDE STORIES - MY INTERVIEW WITH J. SIMONNE

Southside Stories is the name of a publisher based in London, England, that aims to create and unleash groundbreaking graphic novels that push the boundaries of visual storytelling. Recently, I had the good fortune to speak with one of their writers, J. Simonne, who was kind enough to tell me a little bit about their latest releases, 'The Ḍāin' and 'Blood Feud: An Albanian Story'.

1) Name three words that best describe who you are. I'd say, creative, determined, and open-minded.

2) What inspired you to co-create your two graphic novels, 'The Ḍāin' and 'Blood Feud'? The inspiration for 'The Ḍāin' derived from my love of Bollywood as well as some issues I had with the critters that infested my basement flat. 'Blood Feud', on the other hand, was inspired by my good friend and co-writer from Albania, Blerim Karini, who told me stories from his childhood that we felt needed to be conveyed in a realistic fashion in order to fairly depict his culture. Both of these adventures were also inspired by my time working in the television industry.

3) What song would you say best represents these stories and why? It's funny that you should ask this question because my partners and I at Southside Stories have a background in music production and/or DJing, and we've composed music to go along with each graphic novel. The music for 'The Ḍāin' features Indian vocals and instruments, whereas the music for 'Blood Feud' features traditional Albanian instruments.

4) If you could get a celebrity - either living or dead - to promote your wares, who would you choose, and why would you want to choose this particular person? I'd like to select one of my favorite actors, Zoe Saldana, for no other reason than I like her and her acting.

5) Without giving too much away, what do you think is the most surprising thing about each of these stories? Well, I hope our readers will find the characters in both stories surprising, especially how they interact with each other.