SOUTH Coast writer Mike Garley, who has collaborated on award-winning comics, games and screenplays, is giving an illustrated talk at New Milton’s Forest Arts on Tuesday.

He was managing a restaurant in Bournemouth when the ‘itch’ to be creative drove him to write his first comic. On Mike’s own admission this first attempt was ‘rubbish’ so he signed up for a short course in writing and ended up among the first cohort on the MA Writing for the Media course at Bournemouth University.

Mike got his first paid writing commission before he graduated and never had to return to his old ‘day job’. Five years later Mike is an Emmy-nominated writer, who publishes his own comics and lectures on writing for comics at Bournemouth University, as well as writing for other international publications including beActive Media’s Emmy nominated comic series Collider; the Wallace and Gromit comics for Aardman Animations and the Cartoon Network series Adventure Time.

His illustrated talk will give a unique insight into the world of comic and trans-media publishing. Mike uses the online fundraising platform Kickstarter to fund his own comic series’ The Kill Screen and Samurai Slasher. He will also explain the publishing process, from finding artists and letterers to collaborate with through to proofing, printing and finding sales opportunities.

Tickets can be purchased online at forest-arts.co.uk or by calling 01425 612 393.