LitHub can cross one off this list of “10 Books by Arab Writers That Should Be Translated,” published earlier this year; Donia Maher — along with artists Ahmed Nady and Ganzeer — has inked a deal for an English edition of The Apartment in Bab El-Louk with London-Based Darf Publishers:

Image borrowed off Restricted Frequency.

Ganzeer announced it last week via his “Restricted Frequency,” the email missives where he also writes about his must-read The Solar Grid, which is unfolding at thesolargrid.net.

Ganzeer wrote:

THE APARTMENT IN BAB EL-LOUK was the recipient of the KAHIL AWARD for Best Graphic Novel last year, even though it isn’t exactly a graphic novel. It’s an odd thing, this book. It’s only 40 pages long, and its neither comics nor is it illustrated novel. The text alone would not constitute a novella, but more of a short story rather. The illustrations aren’t a mere add on, but an integral part of the storytelling mechanism involved, making the format of the book the only way you can experience the story. The best description of it is Marcia Lynx Qualey‘s, who referred to it as a “fabulous noir poem” in this here interview from 2014.

An excerpt of the book was excellently translated by Lissie Jaquette for Words Without Borders. That said, I do take issue with the typographic treatment in that version, mainly because I had done everything by hand for the original, and that hand-made quality is completely absent from the text in that translated version. Luckily though, Darf Publishers will allow me to hand-write all the text for theirEnglish edition, which I think should be released within the next 18 months.

I’ll add: Let there be more odd things like this.

Also: 

On September 15, novelist Ahmed Naji — who was the writer behind another not-really-a-graphic-novel, Using Life — will spend his 31st birthday in prison. Please start making cards and origami and such now, and we’ll have details about where to send them. Thanks.

Last week, The Offing published a short comic-story by Mohamed Saleh, translated by Elisabeth Jaquette, and an interview with the two of them:

The piece, which won the Swedish Institute Alexandria’s “Facing the Climate,” art competition in November last year, was inspired by that city’s failing infrastructure.

“The progression of the crisis and how people just adapted to its consequences, along with all the lightheartedness that came along was my main inspiration,” Saleh said. “You need to check out the photos for yourself; in a few years ‘8 Minutes’ won’t seem that fictional.”

Indeed, part of the comic’s charm are how it’s tied in to contemporary life, where a beautiful scene in real life is “just like a screen saver.”

Jaquette also lists some comics-translations she’s been involved with, including her current project — The Apartment in Bab el-Louk — and “The Dump” and “Stop Shehata.” She adds: “Oum Cartoon, by the way, is an excellent resource for anyone interested in following the Arabic comics scene, and Ganzeer’s The Solar Grid (written in English) is the comic I’m most pumped for at the moment.”

Go see the comic and interview at The Offing.

Celebrated Franco-Arabo-Anglophone comix artist and musician Mazen Kerbaj announced, via his email newsletter, that he’s working on a new graphic novel to be serialized “on a weekly basis” starting next month:

Kerbaj shared a few panels from his new project and a few ideas about what it will contain (with his characteristically un-capitalized personal pronoun):

After almost two years of research and hesitations, i finally started working on my new graphic novel. Yes i hate this word also, and i prefer comics; but i use it to insist on the fact that it will a long story with a proper scenario and characters, on the contrary of my previous works.

I estimate that it will take two years to complete, but knowing myself, it might easily take the double. But the good news is that it will be serialised on a weekly basis in a Lebanese newspaper beginning next month.

The subject? Beirut, Antoine Kerbage, Mohammad el Maghout, theatre, the 70’s, an unpublished manuscript, the arabs, the golden age of Lebanese artistic scene, all mixed with some autobiography (because otherwise it wont be fun).

You can currently order two of Kerbaj’s English-language comix — Headache Comics VOL I: My Cloud and Headache Comics VOL II: Letter to the Mother and other stories — by sending him an email. He takes payment via PayPal or “good old cash in an envelope.”

You can read a number of Kerbaj’s comix on Words Without Borders. 

Also, if you’re a graphic-novelling arts fan (er, who isn’t) and you haven’t seen Ganzeer’s Solar Grid yet: thesolargrid.net. Also, Donia Maher’s The Apartment in Bab el-Louk, illustrated by Ganzeer and Ahmed Nady, is forthcoming this fall in English translation by Elisabeth Jaquette.

If you have an interest in Arab and Arabic comix — in narrative or single-panel form — then I’d hope you follow Oum Cartoon, edited by Jonathan Guyer (@mideastxmidwest).

But here, a glimpse of five recent narrative projects:

1) Lena Merhej’s 2012 Machine / ماكينة, enigmatically subtitled”a story about drama,” is a wordless exploration of war, refugee life, protest, and violence seen through and by women’s bodies.

Merhej is one of the founders of Samandal magazine, and her evocative art was one of the reasons the magazine was convicted of crimes against religion. Her graphic novel I Think We Will Be Calmer in the Next War was one of the best-selling books in Lebanon in 2007, and her autobiographical Murabba we Laban, (Jam and Yogurt) was released in 2010. You can find more of her work at Grand Papier and new work at Solidarités International, where Merhej and others are working on testimonies from Syrians in Akkar: in Arabic, French, and English.

2) Merhej’s “Where There is Life, There is Love“:

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3) New work by the popular but enigmatic Berlin-based Jordanian comix artist, “Flyin’ Dutchman,” can be found on Behance.

That’s where you can find the Flyin’ Dutchman’s nearly wordless “The Sad Handsome Mysterious Man, Part 2,” among other narrative works:

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4) The Arab comix project to have received the most attention of late, and deservedly, is Ganzeer (Mohamed Fahmy’s) cli-fi futurist-humorist mystery The Solar Grid, appearing in installments at thesolargrid.net/. The first three issues are available now, with a fourth “coming soon.”

Stylish, eclectic, insightful, and jammed with a fun, terse humor.

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5) If you’re interested in shorter cli fi, then The Offing published a short comic-story by Mohamed Saleh, translated by Elisabeth Jaquette: “8 Minutes.”

If you are a graphic novelist working in “the region,” then Tosh Fesh has an opportunity for you:

Tosh Fesh will choose four graphic novels from among those submitted. They’ll fund the projects’ creative development and production, offering writers $2,000 as well as printing and distribution.

The judges are pioneering graphic novelist Lena Merhej, one of the founders of Samandal; editor-in-chief of F/I/M2/P Magazine Mohamed Abdouni; and Tosh Fesh’s Aseel Suleiman.

There is no specification of accepted languages — the submissions call is in Arabic and English — although certainly Merhej can read them in Arabic, English, and French. They might need to find a translator for any submissions in Tamazight.

Read more about how to submit your work at their Facebook page.

The Bigmouth is a project that focuses on “womxn, femmes, and non-binary AMEMSA (African, Middle Eastern, Muslim, South Asian) people in comix and illustration,” and Issa’s Not from Mars is the first zine from Lebanon to be featured:

In an interview with Bigmouth, Issa said of her work:

RI: The most books that influenced me are autobiographies. For example, Nawal ElSaadawi’s “مذكراتي في سجن النساء”* actually encouraged me to take actions in my life. It’s powerful to tell people that this happened to me! Rather than, this happened.

The concept of Zines is new to me, and I was amazed by the fact the one can produce a publication by their own, without having to go through the process of publishing houses and the market. It’s a revolutionary act! “Not from Mars” talks about situations that a girl (which is myself) living in a conservative, capitalist society. The situations are common to many of us ‎insofar as the personal is always in one way or another also political and thus public.

Issa also said, about exciting projects that are forthcoming:

Yes! We’re starting a comic zine collective called ZEEZ!
5 young comic artists and myself – based in Beirut, are starting a collective to produce zines seasonally. We’re hoping to launch our first work in June!

You can follow Issa on Instagram or find more of her featured work on Bigmouth.

*Available in English as Memoirs from the Women’s Prison, trans. Marilyn Booth.

Lebanese comics artist, graphic novelist, and musician Mazen Kerbaj will finally see Beirut Won’t Cry into English this August:

Kerbaj announced the release — which is set for August 31 — via his email newsletter.

In it, he wrote:

Eleven years after the July 2006 war, the totality of the drawings and texts that i published “live” on my (Ker)blog back then are finally collected in a book in English (the language they originally appeared in).

I am very happy that it is Fantagraphics, one of my favorite publishers in the world, that is putting it out, with an introduction by the specialist of comics, wars, Arabs and Israelis: Mr. Joe Sacco.

Meanwhile, if English is not your preferred language, you can get the French version (L’Association, 2007) or the more recent Arabic one (Snoubar Beirut, 2016).

And over at Fantagraphics, they write:

Throughout the summer of 2006, during the Israeli aerial bombardment of Lebanon, Kerbaj published drawings, comics, and writing, a creative chronicle during a time of intense and unspeakable brutality. Drawn and written in English, French, and Arabic, Beirut Won’t Cry shows us how an artist views the world and everything in it — his relationships, his family, and his creative pursuits — as it crumbles violently around him. Historically vital and occasionally hilarious, Beirut is Mazen Kerbaj’s first graphic novel translated into English, introducing to many Americans readers his unique voice and urgent pen, showing readers how to carry on and resist in times of war and oppression.

If you don’t like email newsletters you can also follow Kerbaj’s news on Facebook.

You can also read a number of Kerbaj’s comix on Words Without Borders. 

As usual, there is much going in the Arab and Arabophone comix world:

In Beirut, a new graphic novel collective, Zeez, launched their first titles last month:

Sharing the common theme of the street, each of these 6 mini-comics was written, drawn and silkscreened by a different artist from the Zeez collective. The end result is a collection of diverse and personal works, 6 unique one color mini comics, each available in limited editions.

Meanwhile, from Morocco, a new zine called Halal was in the works:

HALAL is a zine project that provide a free space of self-expression to the Arab World’s youth. We would like to create a place in which young Arab people could live their enjoyment beyond censorship.

In addition to a submissions call in Arabic, French, and English, “HALAL welcomes people from Turkey and Iran as well! You can also send submissions in Turkish and Farsi!”

Tunis just staged its second annual ComicCon July 7-9 with both local and international artists. And on the heels of CairoComix in October of this year, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq is set to have its first-ever comics festival.

Prolilfic Lebanese graphic novelist and musician Mazen Kerbaj makes his English-language debut next month with Beirut Won’t Cry, introduced by Joe Sacco. And also in Lebanon, the Mahmoud Kahil prize open for submissions, now through August 15. The prize is now in its third year.