WRITE
ATTEND
READ
SUPPORT
Meet THe Team
Meet Malaka Gharib, a celebrated journalist, cartoonist, and author of the award-winning graphic memoir I Was Their American Dream. In this fun and interactive hour-long workshop, Malaka will share what it’s like to be a professional cartoonist and show examples of her inspiring work. Then, you’ll explore different cartoon styles, see examples of other comics, and use templates to create your very own comic. Malaka will be there to guide you every step of the way! This workshop is perfect for all elementary-aged kids who love to draw, tell stories, and dream big.
This session is for writers in Grades 1-3. There will be another session on the same day from 3-4pm for writers in Grades 4-8.
%20-%20Malaka%20Gharib.jpeg)
Malaka Gharib is a journalist, cartoonist and graphic novelist. She is the author of I Was Their American Dream, a graphic memoir published in 2019 about being first-generation Filipino Egyptian American, which won an Arab American Book Award in 2020. Then in 2022, she published It Won't Always Be Like This, a graphic memoir about her summers in the Middle East.
By day, she works as a digital editor at NPR for Life Kit, a lifestyle podcast about health, finance, relationships and more. Her comics and writing have been published in the Los Angeles Times, Catapult, The Believer Magazine and The New Yorker. She has been profiled in The Washington Post and The New York Times. Some of her comics and zines are archived at the Smithsonian Institution, the New York Public Library, the Arab American Museum and Barnard College’s Zine Library. Her art and writing has been exhibited at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Harvard Radcliffe Institute and Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery. She lives in Nashville, Tenn., with her husband, son and Shiba Inu.
"Malaka's class was fantastic! I appreciated how thoroughly she covered everything from the storytelling to the 'nuts and bolts' of creating a graphic memoir. She was thoughtful, reflective, and absolutely inspiring. I especially appreciated how respectful and encouraging she was about people's work and ideas."
"I loved this class. Malaka was vibrant, incredibly articulate, totally inspiring, and so open about her experience."
"Malaka was super engaging and inspiring! It was very insightful to hear about her own professional journalism practices and writing process. Every question asked was answered with a lot of thought and care."
