Palestinian comic artist nominated for award
Mohammad Sabaaneh was nominated for the 2022 Palestinian Book Award for "Power Born of Dreams: My Story is Palestine."
Jerusalem24– The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) revealed yesterday the list of shortlisted books nominated for the 2022 Palestinian Book Award, which included “My story is Palestine” by Palestinian cartoonist Muhammad Sabaaneh.
According to the award website, the eleventh edition of the event wants to honor and celebrate English books on Palestine, and to encourage authors and publishers to produce more books related to the subject.
Sabaaneh’s book, nominated for the award, tells dozens of stories of prisoners he met during his detention in 2013, through the art of comics.
According to Sabaaneh, the importance of the book lies in its Palestinian origins, in addition to the method of engraving that was used in its preparation: the last book printed with this technique came out in 1919. This aroused the interest of art critics, especially in light of the presence of modern technical methods and technology. It also received attention from international artists – especially Americans as they consider that comics began in the United States of America.
As for choosing the technique of engraving, Sabaaneh explained to Al-Hadath that it came to him when he saw the names of prisoners engraved on the cell walls, despite the walls’ toughness and a lack of actual engraving tools.
More than 50 books were submitted to the award, which was curated by a jury on the basis of the diversity of performances and genres presenting the Palestinian narrative.