The international refugee crisis is given a singular expression in this affecting work.
— PEN America
Alpha
Abidjan to Paris
Alpha’s wife and son left Côte d’Ivoire months ago to join his sister-in-law in Paris, but Alpha has heard nothing from them since. With a visa, Alpha’s journey to reunite with his family would take a matter of hours. Without one, he is adrift for over a year, encountering human traffickers in the desert, refugee camps in northern Africa, overcrowded boats carrying migrants between the Canary Islands and Europe’s southern coast, and an unforgettable cast of fellow travelers lost and found along the way. Throughout, Alpha stays the course, carrying his loved ones’ photograph close to his heart as he makes his perilous trek across continents.
Featuring emotive, full-color artwork created in felt-tip pen and wash, Alpha is an international award–winning graphic novel supported by Amnesty International and Le Korsa, a nonprofit organization devoted to improving human lives in Senegal.
Alpha is translated from the French by Sarah Ardizzone.
Doctors Without Borders Prize
PEN Promotes Award
GLLI (Global Literature in Libraries Initiative) Translated YA Book Prize Shortlist
CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal Longlist
Library Journal “Best Book of the Year” & “Must-Have Graphic Novel for Black History Month and Beyond” selection
School Library Journal “Best Adult Book 4 Teens” selection
Comics Journal “Best Comic of the Year” selection
Publishers Weekly “Hot Topic” selection
Book Riot “Must-Read Comics about Brave People Who Aren’t Superheroes” selection
Big Other “Most Anticipated Small Press Book” selection
Seattle Public Library “Seattle Reads: Suggested Reading” & “Seattle Picks: Graphic Novels and Comics” selection
Ebook
- ISBN
- 9781942658412
Hardcover
- ISBN
- 9781942658405
Watch Bessora discuss Alpha on the BBC’s Authors Live, find out more about the graphic novel’s origins in this interview with Bessora and translator Sarah Ardizzone, and view a gallery of images from Alpha in the Guardian.
Find a wealth of resources for your book club and classroom discussions of Alpha at Amnesty International.
Bessora is an award-winning author of Swiss, German, French, Polish, and Gabonese heritage, whose work has been anthologized in Best European Fiction and has received the Fénéon Prize and Grand Prix Littéraire d’Afrique Noire. Raised in Europe, America, and Africa, she has traveled extensively and her fiction is underpinned by extensive research and her training as an anthropologist. Alpha is her first graphic novel. She lives in Paris.
visit author page »
Barroux was born in Paris and spent much of his childhood in North Africa. After studying photography, art, sculpture, and architecture, he worked as an art director in Paris and Montreal before beginning his career as an illustrator. His work includes the children’s book Where’s the Elephant?, longlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal, and the graphic novel Line of Fire, based on the diary of an unknown soldier from the First World War. His illustrations have also appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Forbes. He lives in Paris.
visit author page »Praise for Alpha
Intimately told. . . . Masterfully composed. While immigration may be a contentious political issue, Alpha reminds us of the people behind the headlines: those who inhabit the smugglers’ compartments in rickety trucks, pay for fake passports, and trust their lives to boats that are barely seaworthy, all in search of a better future for themselves and their families.
Alpha is the story of everyone who bravely risks all they know for the hope of a better future. . . . Honest and direct rather than inspiring and romantic, Alpha gives a name and face to the multitudes in refugee camps all over the world. An important story for all of us to know.
The text is blunt, matter of fact, but also painfully deep and poetic. . . . [The illustrations] effortlessly complement the text. . . . The washes of greys and blacks stain the page much like tears. This powerful book is an important one. It needs to be in the hands of every citizen of the world, so they can, for a moment, peer into the plight of others and, perhaps, reshape how refugees are viewed.
[Alpha] breaks from the traditional dynamic graphic novel format of panels and speech bubbles. Rather, Bessora’s expressive words serve as captions to the half-page illustrations. . . . Subtle elements of collage are incorporated; small photographs, often of young children, peek into the fore- or background of certain scenes. . . . This stark, poetic story personalizes immigration. For all libraries.
A powerful graphic novel that is also suitable for young adults. . . . [Alpha’s] first-person account of his ‘adventures’ devolves into a living nightmare as the journey drags on with a constantly changing group of companions. The prose is simple, and the story is told without embellishment. . . . The illustrations set a mood of haste and simplicity, appearing to be marker sketches—almost as if they could have been made on the journey. . . . It will be difficult to look upon the plight of any refugees without reflecting on Alpha’s journey.
A searing tale of our time. . . . Once you read this deeply troubling book, passing by, looking away, is no longer an option.
— Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse and An Eagle in the Snow
Amnesty International UK endorses Alpha because it provides insight into the realities of migration and the desperate search for a better life.
— Nicky Parker, Publisher of Amnesty International UK