Set in the aftermath of Iran's fraudulent elections of 2009, Zahra's Paradise is the fictional story of the search for Mehdi, a young protestor who has vanished into an extrajudicial twilight zone. What's keeping his memory from being obliterated is not the law. It is the grit and guts of his mother, who refuses to surrender her son to fate, and the tenacity of his brother, a blogger, who fuses tradition and technology to explore and explode the void in which Mehdi has vanished.
Zahra's Paradise weaves together fiction and real people and events. As the world witnessed the aftermath of Iran's fraudulent elections, through YouTube videos, on Twitter, and in blogs, this story came into being. The global response to this gripping tale has been passionate - an echo of the global outcry during the political upheaval of the summer of 2009. Zahra's Paradise is a first on the internet, a first for graphic novels, and a first in the history of political dissidence. Zahra's Paradise is being serialized online at zahrasparadise.com. Zahra's Paradise is a Publishers Weekly Best Comics title for 2011.
close this panelAmir is an Iranian-American human rights activist, journalist and documentary filmmaker. He has lived and worked in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Afghanistan. His essays and articles have appeared far and wide in the press. Khalil 's work as a fine artist has been much praised. He has been cartooning since he was very young. Zahra's Paradise is his first graphic novel. Both Amir and Khalil have chosen to remain anonymous for political reasons.
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TV:
-Voice of America - US and International tv and online
-Voice of America feature
-WIN TV (An independent channel that reaches a Persian audience)
-France24 (Airs in 100 countries around the world)
PRINT:
-New York Times: "On Friday, First Second Books will begin publishing a serialized Web comic about Iran, which will explore social, political and human rights issues in the country."
-UK Independent
-Estado de Sao Paolo
-The Globe and Mail: "Zahra's Paradise takes a tradition of politically oriented graphic novels and applies it to a situation that's still very much unfolding."
-Haaretz Daily Newspaper
-Diagonal (Spain)
-Diagonal
-New York Times Upfront
-The Economist
ONLINE:
-boingboing
-The Huffington Post
-about.com
-PW Daily
-The Beat
-Jezebel.com
-MTVIggy blog
-PW Comics Week
-CBR
-GQ
-NPR
-Bloomberg
-PBS' Tehran Bureau Newsletter
-Die Welt
-Der Spiegel
-BBC Persian
-NZZ am Sontag
