Meet the author

Kara Bodegón-Hikino.

Writer & illustrator · Philippines

Kara Bodegón-Hikino: debut author-illustrator whose Filipino-folklore graphic novel Squalo & Mage sends a grieving girl and her shark on a big-hearted mythic quest.

Kara Bodegón-Hikino is a Filipino cartoonist and author-illustrator based in Manila, who came to comics by way of a career as a music journalist writing for titles such as Billboard and Bandwagon Asia. A childhood dream of studying sharks feeds directly into her debut graphic novel, Squalo & Mage vs. the Rage of the Bakunawa, in which a grieving girl and her shark best friend set off across a folklore-steeped world to find the guardian of the sea. Steeped in Filipino mythology yet welcoming to newcomers, it is a big-hearted, creature-packed mythic quest and the opener to a planned duology, with a brave, grieving heroine at its centre. Written and drawn in her own rich, expressive style, it marks the arrival of a distinctive new voice in middle-grade graphic fiction.