São Paulo – Next Monday (!8th) at 8:30 pm, the Algerian cartoonist Khalil Bendib will participate in a meeting open to the general public in São Paulo, at the Itaú Cultural headquarters, to discuss the comic book Zahra’s Paradise. Featuring drawings by Bendib and text by the Iranian Amir Soltani, the fictional plot is set against the background of Iran’s political situation.
Zahra’s Paradise was released in Brazil by the LeYa publishing house in January this year. Permeated by actual facts and real-life characters, the comic book tells the story of Zahra, an Iranian widow who loses her son Mehdi after the 2009 protests in Tehran. After the protests against the reelection of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Zahra goes on a desperate search for her son, whom she believes was a victim of repression from the ayatollahs’ regime.
According to a press statement from Itaú Cultural, the story is told in first-person, illustrating the still-ongoing revolt in Iran. Zahra’s Paradise was originally created for the internet, had its chapters published on a weekly basis in more than 12 different languages, and has been read by millions of people in more than 125 countries.
According to the statement, in addition to the Iranian situation, Bendib will also discuss his motivation to create a comic book about human rights violations in that country, and the work method that the authors chose in order to produce the book: brainstorming, concepts, characters, drawing style, and setting.
Born in Algeria, Bendib naturalized as an American and has lived in California for 25 years. The cartoonist, who is a Muslim, has never to Iran and drew Zahra’s Paradise based on internet references. The meeting in São Paulo will be mediated by the filmmaker and cultural producer Flávio Rassekh.
Service
Conversation with Khalil Bendib, author of Zahra’s Paradise
Mediation by Flávio Rassekh
Date and time: June 18th at 8:30 pm
Place: Avenida Paulista, 149
Telephone: +55 11 2168-1776/1777
Admittance free
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
