The Great British Bake Off alum Kim-Joy has announced an exciting new project — her first fictional graphic novel.
Kim-Joy, who finished as a runner-up in 2018's Bake-Off and won the 2022 New Year's special, posted to Instagram to share the exciting news. Turtle Bread is about "baking, fitting in, and the power of friendship" and is now available to pre-order on Amazon.
"I’ve poured tons of time and heart into it for nearly two years, working alongside my extremely talented friend @altifirmansyah who brings every character to life in her artwork," Kim-Joy wrote, before thanking the editors, publishers and designers behind the novel.
"Turtle Bread is about that feeling of loneliness, of not fitting in or feeling good enough, of self-criticism, and the path towards self-acceptance," wrote Kim-Joy, who married in 2022.
"I wanted to explore this through baking (and yes there are some illustrated recipes within the story!) and in particular, the symbolism of the turtle coming out of its shell, being vulnerable and moving forward however slowly that may be. That’s why it’s called Turtle Bread.
"The characters are fictional but they’re inspired by different elements of people I know and admire. Little aspects of people from Bake Off, and people I’ve met. The main character‘s struggles with social anxiety are very much based on a lot of my own experiences."
Kim-Joy clarified that the novel is not a "magical story" wherein everything is somehow fixed by baking but rather it is a smaller story about vulnerability and isolation that builds up with "small steps".
"Turtle Bread is available for preorder NOW (all links in my bio!) and will be available to read online in May, and in print published by @darkhorse in October 🤗 EEEEE!!! Please preorder and I hope you love it as much as I do!!"
This is a welcome bit of exciting news for Kim-Joy, who recently posted about fighting back against the racism she has received from online trolls.
The Great British Bake Off airs on Channel 4 in the UK. In the US, it's known as The Great British Baking Show, and streams on Netflix.
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