Aya: The Secrets Come Out - Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie

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Aya: The Secrets Come Out

Volume Three

Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie

Drawn and Quarterly, September 2009
ISBN: 978-1-897299-79-1, ISBN10: 1-897299-79-6,
6 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches, 132 pages, Full-Color Illustrations Throughout,
Hardcover, $19.95

Praise
Biography

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Categories and Subcategories

See All Categories African Studies African Studies - All Titles Graphic Literature and History Graphic Literature and History - All Titles Young Adult Literature Graphic Novels

Secrets and desires cast long shadows in the third volume of Abouet and Oubrerie's warmly acclaimed series about life in the Ivory Coast of the 1970s. It's a world of shifting values, where issues like arranged marriage and gay love have Aya and her friends yearning to break out of the confines of their community, while the ties of friendship and support draw them back into its familiarity. Distinctly African and brilliantly universal, the Aya series offers a playful and unflinching take on human strengths, foibles, and the comic capriciousness of our natures.

Aya has captured the hearts of North American readers of all ages for the rare portrait it paints of a vibrant, happy, bourgeois Ivory Coast in the 1970s, based upon Marguerite Abouet’s youth in Yop City. Not only is Aya complemented with Clément Oubrerie’s gorgeous artwork, but the volumes also offer a slice-of-life peek into African culture: complete with recipes, glossaries, and wardrobe instructions for turning one’s pagne (brightly colored fabric) into a skirt, head wrap, or baby carrier. Engaging and fun, the universal stories in Aya provide a much-needed context for today’s heartbreaking news stories.

Aya is the winner of the Best First Album award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, the Children’s Africana Book Award, and the Glyph Award; was nominated for the Quill Award, the YALSA’s Great Graphic Novels list, and the Eisner Award; and was included on “best of” lists in The Washington Post, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal.

Praise

Praise for Aya:

“Oubrerie’s style animates both the broadly funny and painfully grave moments in Abouet’s rhythmic slice-of-life storytelling.”—The Washington Post

“[Aya] wittily delves into both the political and the pop during an enchanted era when anything seemed possible.”—Vibe Vixen

“Aya is D+Q’s latest cross-cultural gift, a charming and unexpectedly cheery coming-of-age story.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“A cliché-busting glimpse into life in modern Africa.”—Body + Soul

“[The] characters and scenarios in Abouet’s story present a day-to-day view of West Africa barely seen outside of newspaper blurbs summarizing the country’s political strife.”—Venus

“[Aya] demystifies African life with a warm and energetic new voice.”—New Jersey Record

“Abouet and Oubrerie act as convincing tour guides, presenting us with a lush, funny and humane Africa, one that's rarely depicted.”—Contra Costa Times

“Abouet . . . has attempted to create something very brave in Aya—an intimate portrait of the African world that exists outside the glare of the media spotlight.”—The Boston Globe

“[Aya] brings to life an Ivory Coast not seen before—a place overflowing with vibrant, rich textiles, new words, music, food, and lively characters filled with humor, love, and the hope for a better life.”—Library Journal (starred review)

About the Author(s)

By Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie

Marguerite Abouet was born in Abidjan in 1971. At the age of 12, she was sent with her older brother to study in France under the care of a great uncle. Aya, her first comic, taps into Abouet’s childhood memories of Ivory Coast in the 1970s. She now lives Paris.

Clément Oubrerie was born in Paris in 1966. With over 40 children’s books to his credit, he is also co-founder of the 3-D animation studio, Station OMD. A drummer in a funk band in his spare time, he travels frequently, especially to Ivory Coast.