Zeina Abirached is a Lebanese illustrator, graphic novelist and comic artist who used to live and work in Paris and is now based in Oman. She has published six books with Cambourakis editions and two books with Casterman editions. Her books are based on autobiographic narratives related to her childhood within the Lebanese Civil War. Her distinctive black and white artwork resembles the tones of Arabic calligraphy. Her book Le Piano Oriental is inspired by the life story of her ancestor who invented a new musical instrument in 1960’s Beirut, aimed at bridging western and eastern musical traditions. Critically acclaimed in France, it has been translated into numerous languages. In 2018, she co-authored a book with Goncourt Prize winner Mathias Enard called Prendre Refuge where Enard wrote the text and Zeina created the illustrations.
In 2023, to celebrate the 100 years of the book Le Prophète by Khalil Gibran, she published an illustrated version. A child of Lebanon and exile, like Khalil Gibran before her, Zeina Abirached offers us a new way of discovering this masterly text, whose force and scope continue to surprise us.
About the book in focus
The Prophet (Simon and Schuster, 2024)
A graphic novel of Kahlil Gibran’s masterpiece The Prophet.
“It was while reading The Prophet with a pencil in hand and a drawing pad on my knees that I finally met him …”
Kahlil Gibran is the third bestselling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Laozi. His masterpiece, The Prophet, is one of the most beloved classics ever to be published. It sold over 9 million copies in the US alone and was translated into over 100 languages. Now his 1923 inspirational book is brought to life as a richly illustrated graphic novel.
The night before embarking on a long journey which will take him back to his homeland, the young Almustafa, “the chosen and loved,” responds to questions from residents of the city of Orphalese. Among them, he particularly addresses the Prophetess Almitra, who is keen to learn his teachings and wisdom on the big questions of human life: love, friendship, talent, self-awareness, time, good and evil, reason and passion, beauty and pleasure, suffering—everything including death.
In this philosophical and spiritual narrative, reproduced here in its full text, Zeina Abirached creates a graphic novel full of light and shadows, exploring the most lyrical images to the most conceptual passages.
A tour-de-force that Abirached brings to life with her characteristic style, this volume will attract and inspire readers of all ages as it pays a beautiful tribute to its author and celebrates 100 hundred years of The Prophet, whose beauty and power continues to inspire and surprise us.
Book
The Prophet (Simon and Schuster, 2024)
When
January 2025
Where
Kerala Literature Festival, 2025