Bryan Talbot is one of Britain's comics stars, with an international reputation both for the comics he writes and draws solo (such as the groundbreaking The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and The Tale of One Bad Rat which won an Eisner award - the comics equivalent of an Oscar). (Read more about Bryan, and see some of his work, on his web site).

When he moved from the northwest to Sunderland, he was bowled over by his new home town, and started thinking about a book which would bring together a history of Sunderland, with material from his own life, a history of British comics and Alice in Wonderland. Although Lewis Carroll is usually described as an Oxford man, he had close connections with the northeast, and so did Alice.

The book is called Alice in Sunderland, and it will be published in April. Bryan is doing a sequence of local events for the launch, and will be in Waterstones in Durham on Sunday April 22nd, between 2.00 pm and 3.00 pm. Which will be an opportunity to go and see the pages in which the Pilgrim, the author's representative, travels from Finchale, where he sees Saint Godric tormented by devils and goblins, to Durham itself, where he tells various colourful tales about the City's history.