Coming in August: Mazen Kerbaj’s ‘Beirut Won’t Cry,’ Finally in English

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.