Joff Winterhart
b'Joff Winterhart was one of the first graphic novelists to find their work shortlisted for the Costa Novel prize. That was his debut, Days of the Bagnold Summer, a funny, beguiling portrayal of the profound failure in communication between a down-at-heel single mother and her painfully introverted, would-be rock god son. Singled out for high praise from Zadie Smith, his second novel, Driving Short Distances, portrays the hesitant, deeply repressed friendship that springs up between a slightly hopeless young chap and the mysterious man who hires him to drive him from unit to unit on industrial estates. It\\u2019s a horribly well observed study of masculinity, our need for father figures and all those inexplicable small businesses on the edge of town\\u2026\\n\\nJoff talked about these, his fascinating working methods and his novel-in-progress with novelist Patrick Gale at North Cornwall Book Festival 2021.'