The author of the acclaimed Algerian graphic novel Fatma n’Parapli, Safia Ouarezki, talks about the people behind the characters in her striking debut:

By Nadia Ghanem

Fatma n’Parapli (Fatma of the umbrella) is a comix written in Algerian Derja by Safia Ouarezki. It was a family project: inked by Soumeya Ouarezki, Safia’s sister, and drawn by the graphic artist Mahmoud Benameur, Soumeya’s husband. Fatma n’Parapli was published in 2014 by Dalimen Editions, a publishing house that specialises in graphic novels and comix in Algeria, and released in French translation in May 2019 by Alifbata editions as Fatma au Parapluie, translated from the Algerian by Lotfi Nia.

This was the same publishing house about to release Abdelaziz Mouride’s graphic-novel adaptation of Mohamed Choukri’s For Bread Alone.

Fatma n’Paraplui tells the story of “Fatma of the many umbrellas” and of Lallahoum, two women who live in a neighborhood…