My name is Una, meaning “one”. One life —one of many. What can I tell you about myself?

Becoming Unbecoming, Una, 2015

It’s the 10th anniversary of my graphic novel Becoming Unbecoming (B/U), published in 2015 in the UK. In those ten years I’ve received many messages from readers around the world. The book touched and moved people. For many it was a chance to reflect on their own experiences and think about how they might write their own life.

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People have sought me out at events to tell me their stories. I’ve had impromptu support sessions with crying and hugging. One time, a whole book club group came to greet me rather giddily at the Southbank Centre. I’ve had invitations from Italy, Spain, France, Austria, United States, Brazil and India to speak about the book. I’m currently helping a Ph.D student in the US adapt images to performance to help tell their life story.

Others have done so much with my story. The questions is, what should I do next with it? The answer: I’m planning to write a play with support from a mentor. The working title is Dedicated to all the Others (the message in the front of the book).

My mentor is Brian Daniels, of Pluto Productions, who has written 28 plays on social issues. Brian was Artistic Director of New End Theatre, Hampstead for 14 years, so is well-known in theatre circles. We met by chance through a project I’ve been working on and got talking. I’m so grateful for his support as writing a play is a major change in direction for me.

Brian Daniels was Artistic Director of New End Theatre, Hampstead where he produced 200+ new plays, musicals & cultural events. He is currently Artistic Director of New End Theatre Beyond and a board member of Royal Victoria Hall Foundation and Phoenix Dance Theatre, Leeds.

My playwright mentor, Brian Daniels

The Impact of Becoming Unbecoming

B/U is an atmospheric, experimental graphic novel with a strong aesthetic. There are many articles written about it, you can see a list at the foot of this page, and B/U is studied in schools and universities worldwide. It has been successfully adapted into theatre in Brazil with my support. I’d love UK audiences to experience this story as live performance and to have an opportunity to discuss the issues it brings to the fore.

I loved Val Doonican. He had a song called Walk Tall. He told me to look the world right in the eye and that’s what I tried to do.

I soon learned to lower my gaze.

Becoming Unbecoming, Una, 2015

A Strange Musical Landscape — 1975 to 1981

The play even has a ready-made soundtrack. I’d like the performance to contrast Una’s silence with the popular music from that is referenced in the book. Here’s a Spotify playlist of all the songs referenced in Becoming Unbecoming. You can follow my Spotify account for other playlists I compiled for writing, soothing and feeling good. Music is good for the soul.

Here are some images from the Brazil production, which was devised in short scenes based on the book by young actors with advice from their director Felipe and myself. The play was performed for a year in theatres and community venues, free of charge.

Articles about Becoming Unbecoming

Appleton, Catherine, and Mallan, Kerry. “Filling the Silence: Giving Voice to Gender Violence in Una’s Graphic Novel Becoming Unbecoming.” International Research in Children’s Literature 11.1 (2018): 47-64. Web.

Aengst, Jennifer. “Laurie HalseAnderson (Author)EmilyCaroll (Illustrator)Speak: The Graphic Novel2018Farrar, Straus and GirouxNew York.” Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 57.9 (2018): 705-07. Web.

Baeza Ruiz, A. Una’s Becoming Unbecoming, Visuality, and Sexual Trauma, In Davies, Dominic, and Candida Rifkind. Documenting Trauma in Comics : Traumatic Pasts, Embodied Histories, and Graphic Reportage. Basingstoke, 2020. Palgrave Studies in Comics and Graphic Novels. Web.

Barrero, M., & Norman Fernández, 2017. VISUALIZANDO EL MALTRATO (2017, SEMANA NEGRA) Gijon: Tebeosfera

BECOMING UNBECOMING. Kirkus Reviews LXXXIV.17 (2016): Kirkus Reviews, 2016-09-01, Vol.LXXXIV (17). Web.

Becoming Unbecoming. Publishers Weekly 262.51 (2015): 69. Web.

Diedrich, Lisa. “Graphic Trauma.” Lambda Nordica 27.2-3 (2021): 102-28. Web.

Donovan, Courtney, and Ustundag, Ebru. “Graphic Narratives, Trauma and Social Justice.” Studies in Social Justice 11.2 (2017): 221-37. Web.

Gabriela Barbosa De Souto. “Desconstruindo Una E A Diferença Invisível: Relação Entre as Novelas Gráficas Autobiográficas E O Romance De Formação.” Sociopoética 1.22 (2020): Sociopoética, 2020-11-01, Vol.1 (22). Web.

Gilmore, Leigh, and Elizabeth Marshall. Witnessing Girlhood : Toward an Intersectional Tradition of Life Writing. New York, NY, 2019. Web.

Kellett, Kathleen, and Silver, Lauren. “Witnessing Girlhood: Toward an Intersectional Tradition of Life Writing by Leigh Gilmore and Elizabeth Marshall.” The Lion and the Unicorn (Brooklyn) 45.1 (2021): 127-30. Web.

Marshall, E., 2018. Graphic Girlhoods: Visualizing Education and Violence, New York/Oxon: Routledge

Michael, Olga. “PTSD and Female Sexuality in the Aftermath of Childhood and Adolescent Sexual Abuse in Una’s Becoming Unbecoming.” Journal of Graphic Novels & Comics 11.4 (2020): 394-411. Web

Pedri, Nancy, and Velentzas, Irene. “Sexuality and Mental Illness in Comics: Notes towards an Introduction.” Journal of Graphic Novels & Comics 11.4 (2020): 357-72. Web.

Pedri, Nancy. “Breaking out of Panels: Formal Expressions of Subjectivity in Ellen Forney’s Marbles and Una’s Becoming Unbecoming.” Studies In Comics 9.2 (2018): Pp297-314. Web.

Remm, Alexandria Ann. “Ecofeminism, Trauma, and Visual Metamorphosis in Una’s Becoming Unbecoming.” The comics grid 15.1 (2025): 1-. Web.

Review: “BECOMING UNBECOMING.” Kirkus Reviews LXXXIV.17 (2016): Kirkus Reviews, 2016-09-01, Vol.LXXXIV (17). Web.

Review: Bostrom, Annie. “Becoming Unbecoming.” Booklist 112.9-10 (2016): 58. Web.

Review: Jacobs, Rita D. “Una. Becoming Unbecoming.” World Literature Today 91.2 (2017): 91. Web.

Souza, Martha Júlia Martins de, and Eduardo Aluísio de Gang Fabro. “Becoming Unbecoming: Graphic Novel, Gender-Based Violence and Resistance.” Revista X (Curitiba, Brazil) 17.1 (2022): 213–230. Web.

Thesis: Wholey, Kyle. Feminist Hybridity: Word and Image in Citizen and Becoming, Unbecoming (2019). Web

Wolk, Douglas, New York Times, The Season’s Best New Graphic Novels, Becoming Unbecoming (2016) Web. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/books/review/the-seasons-best-new-graphic-novels.html