Graphic novel brings human side of Yemen to life
Despite the ravaging war, real life in Yemen remains mysterious to outsiders, and two Italian authors are sharing their take with "The Yemeni Bride."
When Guido Ostanel, the editorial director of the Italian publishing house BeccoGiallo, found a book proposal about Yemen waiting on his office desk two years ago, he was immediately captivated. “In Italy, and in the West in general, this country and the current war haven’t made headlines in newspapers, let alone books lately,” he told Al-Monitor.
The proposal consisted of a storyboard and several sketches — a true teaser for an unusual graphic novel about an Arab country about which little was known except the violence and suffering caused by the Yemen war. It was the work of two women, cartoonist Paola Cannatella and documentary filmmaker Laura Silvia Battaglia.
It took another year to put everything together. “The Yemeni Bride” came out in 2016 and was reprinted in 2017. It's set to come out in English in 2018.
“We tried to explain Yemen in its entirety, from stories of daily life to bigger socio-political events currently taking place in the country,” Battaglia told Al-Monitor in a phone interview.
