That’s the School Library Journal’s assessment of the U.S. ALA convention: Graphic novels are everywhere, raining down from children’s-book publishers.
So what of graphic novels in Arabic?
Camille Soler writes that, in Cairo and Beirut—two cities that have long traditions of political cartooning and caricature—the graphic-novel genre is starting to blossom.
Unfortunately, in Cairo, this blossoming has been met by the cold wind of censorship. After Magdy Shafee’s Metro—the first Egyptian graphic novel for grown-ups—was presented at the Cairo book fair, it was censored, yanked from shelves, and the author and publisher fined 5,000LE for offending public morals. I believe they are still appealing.
In Lebanon, there are more graphic novels popping up. Soler notes the work of Zeina Abirached and Mazen Kerbaj (at left); there is also Joumana Medlej’s superhero narrative Malaak: Angel of Peace, written in a mixture of French, English, and transliterated Arabic.
If the Emirates really wants to jump-start reading in the region, I suggest two things (in addition to a freer book industry): 1) books must be A LOT less expensive, as they (sometimes) are in India, and 2) why not a prize for high-quality, literary graphic novels?
UPDATE: From Al-Masry Al-Youm, a video clip (with terrifying pop music): Cartoon Harvest 2009. Cartoonists lament the lack of independent outlets, but: “Over the past three to four years, I’ve noticed the number of cartoonists is on the rise.”
“This [Harvest ’09] is the most important exhibit, showcasing all the cartoonists at large in Egypt.”