#baddawi

Robots and Poet Laureates Abound in March: Weekly News Round-Up by Emily Ramser

Novel Written By Robot Passes First Round in Japanese Lit Prize

The Day A Computer Writes a Novel was written by, as the title suggests, an artificial intelligence program. The novel made it through the first round of judging for the Hoshi Shinichi Literary Award. Eleven books written by robots were entered in the contest.

Stuart Kestenbaum Named Maine’s Poet Laureate

Stuart Kestenbaum, the…

4.) Baddawi by Leila Abdelrazaq Baddawi is the story of a young boy named Ahmad struggling to find his place in the world. Raised in a refugee camp called Baddawi in northern Lebanon, Ahmad is just one of the thousands of Palestinians who fled their homeland after the war in 1948 established the state of Israel.

Why I Recommend It: “Palestine is buried deep in the creases of my grandmother’s palms.”

Any explanation I give of Baddawi is doomed to fall short of expressing how important Leila Abdelrazaq’s illustrated account of her father’s early life is. A graphic novel accented with the designs used in traditional Palestinian embroidery, it tells not only her father’s story, but the story of an entire generation of children.

“This story is about one individual, but its anecdotes are uttered in countless families, at children’s bedsides, late at night. We stir the tales into our coffee with cardamom, and read our return in the grounds. That’s because for Palestinians, preservation of the past is an act of resistance. It reminds us that we must continue to struggle, until liberation and return.”

3.) Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas Everyone Celaena Sardothien loves has been taken from her. But she’s at last returned to the empire—for vengeance, to rescue her once-glorious kingdom, and to confront the shadows of her past. She has embraced her identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen. But before she can reclaim her throne, she must fight.

Why I Recommend It: I could write an essay on Maas’s female characters in Queen of Shadows. After reading it I reflected that there was something different about them, something that left a more noticeable impression. And I realized it was that her women were written like men. They’re entirely in control of their lives and decisions and can rescue their dang selves, thanks very much. Occasionally a critic to some YA series will pop up and say that the lead female character isn’t “vulnerable” enough, and that makes her unlikeable. Another author I love recently replied to this with “When people say a female character isn’t vulnerable enough, they are literally saying they want to feel like they can hurt her.”

It’s true, and applies to many of the people who have problems with strong, independent, female characters. So I am going to go ahead and say that if you feel that way, if you like your heroines vulnerable and quiet and docile, you probably will not enjoy Queen of Shadows.

2.) Nimona by Noelle Stevenson Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren’t the heroes everyone thinks they are. But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona’s powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit.

Why I Recommend It: What I love the most about Nimona as a character is that she is a complicated heroine. Noelle Stevenson has acknowledged that Nimona is not exactly a good person all the time, has difficulty differentiating between right and wrong, and that readers will have a hard time casting her as their hero. She’s not someone who exists in a world where everything is either black or white. Nimona, as well as Ballister and Goldenloin, exist in many shades of gray. There aren’t pure and true heroes, or evil to the core villains. They are characters who have real flaws and doubts about themselves and mess up sometimes. Oftentimes they are unwilling to admit their true feelings. ButNimona is full of heartbreak and hope and is occasionally laugh out loud hilarious. And being a reader who has followed Stevenson’s work for a very long time, it makes me incredibly happy to be able to put her on this best of list.

1.) Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace Wasp’s job is simple. Hunt ghosts. And every year she has to fight to remain Archivist. Desperate and alone, she strikes a bargain with the ghost of a supersoldier. She will go with him on his underworld hunt for the long-long ghost of his partner and in exchange she will find out more about his pre-apocalyptic world than any Archivist before her. And there is much to know. After all, Archivists are marked from birth to do the holy work of a goddess. They’re chosen. They’re special. Or so they’ve been told for four hundred years.

Why I Recommend ItOut of everything I read this year, Archivist Wasp was the most unexpected. It’s completely unlike any dystopia or post-apocalyptic literature that I have ever read. Personally, I think that Y.A. dystopia has been a shambling corpse of a genre for over a year now, overwrought with tropes and the same tired old storylines. Archivist Wasp is exactly what we need at exactly the right time, and props to Kornher-Stace for leading by example. I think a lot of authors needed to be reminded that it’s okay to step outside of that box that The Hunger Games has built up around us and try something else. Wasp’s journey, her stepping outside of herself and going into the Underworld, in combination with the story of Ghost and Foster, reads like a sci-fi fable. The parallels between the lives of the three of them runs deep. All of them shaped into weapons, but ultimately refusing to be used. It’s brilliant and original and it totally a book you can read over and over and still find new things you never picked up on. BEST BOOK OF 2015.

Palestinian-American artist and author Leila Abdelrazaq was detained and interrogated in Arizona, near the Mexican border, because of notebook sketches and Arabic writing. After her brief detainment, right-wing media outlets distorted the story, spreading myths and blatant lies that the young woman was supposedly leading a terror plot.

Abdelrazaq’s graphic novel “Baddawi” was featured in VICE in early December. She wrote the book during her time as a student at DePaul University in Chicago, based on anecdotes from her father’s life in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.The 23-year-old artist was in Nogales, Arizona on Dec. 2 to research her next art project. She and her friends were near the border for just a few minutes. Abdelrazaq was sketching the scenery in her notebook when U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers approached and asked them to leave. They obeyed the orders.

ICYMI for 12/6/15 to 12/12/15

Highlighting some great comics criticism being published, as well as other random things that have caught my eye over the past week.

COMICS CRITICISM

  * David Brothers on Tite Kubo’s BLEACH * Tasbeeh Herwees interviews Leila Abdelrazaq about her book BADDAWI * Paste Magazine picks their BEST COMIC BOOKS OF 2015 * Andy Oliver picks his BEST OF 2015 * The AV Club picks their FAVORITE ONGOING…

ICYMI for 12/6/15 to 12/12/15

Highlighting some great comics criticism being published, as well as other random things that have caught my eye over the past week.

COMICS CRITICISM

  * David Brothers on Tite Kubo’s BLEACH * Tasbeeh Herwees interviews Leila Abdelrazaq about her book BADDAWI * Paste Magazine picks their BEST COMIC BOOKS OF 2015 * Andy Oliver picks his BEST OF 2015 * The AV Club picks their FAVORITE ONGOING…

Bugün annemin bir arkadaşının getirdiği zahteri zeytinyağıyla beraber yerken uzun süre önce blogunu okuduğum ve o zamandan beri paylaşmak istediğim bir çizeri tanıtmaya karar verdim.

Leila Abdul Rezzaq, Filistinli-Amerikalı bir sanatçı. Bir blogda yayımlamaya başladığı “Baddawi” isimli çizgi hikayesi yakın zamanda kitaplaştırılarak satışa sunuldu. Filistinli olan babasının 1970′lerde Lübnan’daki Baddawi adlı mülteci kampında geçen çocukluğunu anlattığı çizgi roman, ağızda Persepolis ile Maus arası bir tat bırakıyor. 

“Baddawi’yi eşsiz bir hikaye olduğu için çizmiyorum. Çiziyorum çünkü bu pek anlatılmayan müşterek bir hikaye.” diyor Leila. 

Kitabı buradan sipariş edebilir, Leila’nın portfolyosunu buradan görebilir ve Baddawi’nin bloguna buradan ulaşabilirsiniz.

Ben tadımlık olarak küçücük bir kısmı çevirdim. Türkiye’de yayımlamak isteyen olursa tümünü çevirmeyi de çok isterim. 

Kampta bilye oyununu biraz abartıp arkadaşlarından para toplamaya başlayan Ahmet’in, zahterle tanışma hikayesine misafir olalım:

Bonus olarak, Leila’nın bir arkadaşının çektiği tanıtım videosunu da kaçırmayın:

Leila Abdelrazaq speaks about her graphic novel, Baddawi, at the Arab American Action Network, during her book launch on April 8

Baddawi, a graphic novel written and illustrated by Palestinian-American, Leila Abdelrazaq, will transcend generations.

Abdelrazaq based the novel on the life of her father, who grew up in Baddawi, a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. She successfully seized a part of…