INTERVIEW: How does someone go from witnessing the horrors of a West Yorkshire hatchery to championing the rights of animals through powerful storytelling? We spoke to author and international campaigner Susan Hargreaves about reaching young minds and her graphic novel launch tour.

Q: Jane Goodall, Michell Obama, Paul McCartney and Joaquin Phoenix, with such strong endorsement of your work as - among many other things - founder of the youth-empowering charity Animal Hero Kids, based in the US, it’s safe to say that you’re a powerhouse of animal justice campaigning. Where does that motivation come from?

When I was nine years old, I was taken to a hatchery in West Yorkshire by my aunt because she said I loved animals so much. But what I saw that day still haunts me to this day. That terrible experience still fuels my kindness education, activism and the founding of the empowerment and education global charity, Animal Hero Kids.

Q: We understand that you’re making a poignant return to that hatchery as part of the tour launching your VEGANZA series? 

Yes, 54 years later I will return to the very same building to present a Veganza Animal Hero storybook to an Early Childhood Education school dressed as the main character, Veganza. The original hatchery owner went vegetarian and sold the business - today it is in fact a pre-school. 

The children will all wear capes and enjoy vegan treats. This is just one stop on an epic International Veganza Animal Heroes Series-Liberation tour across the UK, Ireland and the US. This morning I woke up to find the book, even though it isn’t yet launched, is number one on Amazon’s new releases for books about Ecology and Teens.  

Q: For our readers who aren’t yet up-to-speed on the adventures of the Veganza Animal Heroes, please tell us more about this amazing collection of super-powered characters who feature in your graphic novel series?

I had a lightbulb moment, why not create a trio of vegan animal superheroes whose sole purpose is to rescue animals? Veganza is the red-haired flying hero whose superpower is to freeze a scene of cruelty and make the perpetrator feel what the animal feels, thus creating empathy. Courage is the vegan mermaid who defends all of her sea friends. Freedom marshals the power of the sky, the wind and all the flying creatures. 

Together this trifecta of heroes protects and liberates all animals from harm, but there’s also Phoenix, the young teen in a foster group home who becomes an ally and a hero herself, so named after the bird who rises from the ashes. 

The superheroes are actually on tour with us too. Freedoms’ character will be played by Korin Sutton the professional vegan bodybuilder. Courage is played by Mitali Deypurkaystha, whose business is to help others tell their story. I wonder if you can guess who Veganza will be played by?

Q: When does the VEGANZA series launch, and how can people get their hands on it?

The global book launch was celebrated on July 6, and while the Veganza Animal Heroes Series-Liberation hardback is available to buy now on Amazon, the Kindle e-novel version can be downloaded for free.

Q: If people want to see you speak and find out more about the book, where can they see you?

The first stop on the tour was a return to England where I was born. In London, I met up with our superheroes Freedom (Korin) and Courage (Mitali), all fully costumed, at the Just-V show in London. It was a fantastic experience and we were so glad to have the chance to reach out to the 45,000 attendees.

After London, it was off to West Yorkshire to visit the former hatchery turned pre-school. and then to Ireland to visit the Dublin SPCA. There they welcome and rescue all species of animals in their Wicklow mountain sanctuary. The DSPCA summer campers will meet the heroes in person, hear the animal rescue stories and enjoy a vegan lunch. Then it’s off to the Happy Pear Café to film vegan twins Dave and Steve Flynn reading their segment of the story in the novel.

The Veganza Animal Heroes will fly and swim again at the Aug 6 -7 Mindful Eating Film Festival where the film The Heart Whisperer will be screened. The book will be featured along with the Veganza Animal Hero claymation.

The new books and films are part of the Be an Animal Hero campaign which culminates in October with #animalherotober events around the world.

We warmly invite everyone to join the Veganza Animal Heroes and help their compassionate message span generations and the globe to open hearts and minds for ALL species. Visit beananimalhero.org.

Andrew Gough is Media and Investigations Manager at Surge Media.

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