Maya Zankoul () (born 30 June 1986 in

Hasbaya Hasbaya or Hasbeiya () is a municipality in Lebanon, situated at the foot of Mount Hermon, overlooking a deep amphitheatre from which a brook flows to the Hasbani River. In 1911, the population was about 5,000. The town was a traditional seat of ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

) is a Lebanese author, visual artist,

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

ger and television personality mostly known for her sarcastic

cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

and comics published in her books and her popular

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

blog, Amalgam.

Early life

Maya Zankoul grew up in

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, and in 2005 moved to her home country,

, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in

Graphic Design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

in 2007 from

Notre Dame University – Louaize Notre may refer to: *Notre language (ISO 639 language code bly), a Gur language found in Benin *André Le Nôtre (1613–1700), French landscape architect * See also *Lenotre (disambiguation) Lenôtre (also Le Nôtre or LeNotre) is a French fam ...

Career

In 2009, she started her comic blog, Amalgam, where she shares

illustrations An illustration is a decoration, interpretation, or visual explanation of a text, concept, or process, designed for integration in print and digitally published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vi ...

commenting on daily life in Lebanon from a

socio-political Political sociology is an interdisciplinary field of study concerned with exploring how governance and society interact and influence one another at the micro to macro levels of analysis. Interested in the social causes and consequences of how ...

point of view. She self-published her first book, ''Amalgam'', in 2009, which reached Top 5 in sales at

Virgin Megastore Virgin Megastores is an international entertainment retailing chain, founded in early 1976 by Richard Branson as a record shop on London's Oxford Street. In 1979 the company opened their first Megastore at the end of Oxford Street and Tottenh ...

. In summer 2010, after touring Lebanon with her exhibition ''Amalgame'', she published her second book, ''Amalgam Vol. 2''. In January 2011, she founded her own design studio in Beirut. The Italian translation of her books is published by publishing house

Il Sirente Editrice il Sirente is an Italian book publisher with specialisms in human rights and international law, Arabic fiction and comics, investigation, actuality. The company was founded in 1998. The catalog, including works of nonfiction on topics m ...

, in their Altriarabi series, and the books were launched at the Pisa Book Festival 2011. In April 2013, she co-founded explainer video company wezank.

Books

Author, Illustrator

*''Amalgam'' (2009) *''Amalgam Vol. 2'' (2010) *''Beirut - New York'' (2016) *''Story of the Grilled Cheese Sandwich'' (2020)

Illustrator

;In the press *''Making it'' *''The Global Journal'' *''ELLE Oriental'' *''ArabAd'' ;In books *''Nuits Beyrouthines''

Television

Zankoul made her first major television debut with a segment aiming at teaching social media to stay-at-home women entitled Bwa2ta. The segment premiered in August 2012 and still runs every Tuesday on

Future Television Future Television (, ''Televizyon al-Mustaqbal'') was a Lebanese free-to-air television station founded in 1993 by the Future Movement leader Rafic Hariri, a former Prime Minister of Lebanon. Future TV was also available via satellite in the Arab ...

Exhibitions

* "Samneh w 3asal" (2011) At Tawlet Souk el Tayeb (Beirut) * "Amalgame" (2009, 2010) At the French Culture Center, (Beirut, Saida, Tripoli, Deir el Qamar and Zahle centers)

Other work

Zankoul actively participates in illustration in local and regional events. She did live illustrations at the Arabnet 2010 conference and at the 17e Salon du Livre Francophone de Beyrouth Zankoul has also lectured at the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...

, and has presented her work at the First

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

Salon in

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

and at

Pecha Kucha PechaKucha (Japanese: ぺちゃくちゃ, IPA: etɕa kɯ̥tɕa ''chit-chat'') is a storytelling format in which a presenter shows 20 slides for 20 seconds per slide. At a PechaKucha Night, individuals gather at a venue to share personal presenta ...

Night 6 in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

. In October 2011, Zankoul presented her book and work to

Felipe, Prince of Asturias Felipe VI (; Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Grecia; born 30 January 1968) is King of Spain. In accordance with the Spanish Constitution, as monarch, he is head of state and commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed F ...

at a

Campus Party Campus Party (CP) is a conference and hackathon. Founded in 1997 as a technology festival and LAN party, the event was first held in Málaga, Spain, and has since been run in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvado ...

event in

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

, Spain. In September 2013, she participated to a talk titled "War, Not A Serious Issue" with Paolo Di Giannantonio in

Lucera Lucera (Neapolitan language, Lucerino: ) is an Italian city of 34,243 inhabitants in the province of Foggia in the region of Apulia, and the seat of the Diocese of Lucera-Troia. Located upon a flat knoll in the Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere ...

, Italy at the occasion of the Mediterranean Culture Festival.

References

External links

Amalgam, Maya Zankoul's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zankoul, Maya 1986 births People from Hasbaya Graphic novelists Lebanese activists Lebanese women writers Living people Lebanese comics artists Lebanese female comics artists Female comics writers Lebanese contemporary artists Lebanese women artists Notre Dame University–Louaize alumni