ABOUT HELEN McCARTHY
Helen McCarthy was born in Widnes, a small industrial town on the River Mersey, in 1951. She is the eldest of eight surviving siblings. Her father’s family were Northern Irish Protestants and her mother’s Irish Catholic immigrants, which led to large family gatherings and lively exchanges of opinion. She has written and told stories all her life.
Her first book, published in 1992, was only 28 pages long, but her second, a year later, was the first book in English about Japanese animation. She’s been writing about anime, manga and Japanese pop culture ever since, with books on auteurs including Hayao Miyazaki, Osamu Tezuka and Leiji Matsumoto. She wrote the shortest ever comprehensive history of manga and co-authored the longest and most exhaustive history of anime in English.
She travels all over the UK and around the world talking about Japan-related topics including the works of Studio Ghibli and Osamu Tezuka, the global history of cosplay, travel in Japan and the history of British anime and manga fandom. So far, she’s spoken at universities, museums, libraries and fan events across America, Europe and Asia. She also guests on podcasts, though she has yet to launch one of her own.
She has curated and presented events at London’s Barbican Centre since the early 2000s, including a groundbreaking series of midweek anime screenings and talks, and special events including the Tezuka 80thanniversary cinema festival in 2008 and the “Anime’s Human Machines” cinema season, part of the “Life Rewired” season in 2019.
She also contributed to the British Museum’s manga exhibitions, culminating in The Citi Exhibition: Manga in 2019, the largest exhibition devoted to manga outside Japan.
She worked with choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui on TeZuKa at Sadler’s Wells in 2011, and again on Pluto at the Barbican in 2017 and in Belgium in 2018
She’s a feminist, trade unionist and advocate for authors’ rights, and a member of the Society of Authors.
AWARDS
2010 Harvey Award winner and Eisner Award nominee for the Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga
2008 Great Britain Sasakawa Award/Authors’ Foundation Award for research into Japanese animation and comics
2006 International Manga and Anime Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement in Anime and Manga
1997 Japan Festival Award for work in promoting understanding of Japanese culture in Britain