Lena Merhej’s German mother, married to a Lebanese man, tries to fit in to the local culture.
Excerpt from Lena Merhej’s comic hit Mrabba wa Laban
Lena’s comic novel Mrabba wa Laban.
Lena Merhej’s graphic novel Mrabba wa Laban.
This is an excerpt from Mrabba wa Laban, the Arabic graphic novel by Lena Merhej, translated by Nadiyah Abdullatif and Anam Zafar. Unlike many stories of migration, the graphic novel recounts Merhej’s mother’s journey from West to East, and how as a German, she adapted to life in Lebanon. The humor in this extract stems largely from comparing stereotypes of Western and Arab women, as Lena’s childhood self tries to understand where her mother falls on the scale, and as the reader learns how her mother tried to avoid being recognized as a foreigner to avoid trouble.
Mrabba wa Laban was one of the first graphic novels to have appeared in Arabic and has been published in French, Spanish and Italian, though not yet in English.
The trope of the overbearing, over-organized mother appears, with the military-style poses of the children humorously conveying the strict delegation of chores, and later when Lena narrates how her mother sometimes calls her children very early in the morning when she miscalculates the time difference. The last two pages of the extract are a poignant representation of the mixing of cultures in the author’s family, represented by the familiar humor of the fatigue associated with always eating the same dishes.
Lena Merhej was born in 1977 in Beirut to a Lebanese father and German mother. She is the founder of the Story Centre in Beirut, was the director of the Beirut Animated Festival, and has taught illustration and animation at universities in Beirut. Mrabba wa Laban and her comic book Kamen Sine(2009), received the Award for Best Comic at FIBDA (International Comic Strip Festival of Algiers).
Nadiyah Abdullatif is a freelance translator of Arabic, French and Spanish. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of St Andrews in Modern Languages (Arabic and Spanish) and International Relations and a Masters in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Edinburgh.
Anam Zafar
is a multi-award-winning translator from Arabic and French to English. She appears on the 100 Inspiring Muslims: Next Generation Edition list (Emerald Network/Aziz Foundation). Her co-translation of Josephine Baker’s memoir Fearless and Free, with Sophie Lewis, is out now with Vintage Classics/Tiny... Read more
Anam Zafar
is a multi-award-winning translator from Arabic and French to English. She appears on the 100 Inspiring Muslims: Next Generation Edition list (Emerald Network/Aziz Foundation). Her co-translation of Josephine Baker’s memoir Fearless and Free, with Sophie Lewis, is out now with Vintage Classics/Tiny Reparations. Her co-translation with Nadiyah Abdullatif of Yoghurt and Jam, Or How My Mother Became Lebanese, Lena Merhej’s graphic memoir, won a PEN Translates Award, was shortlisted for the Saif Ghobash Prize and was longlisted for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. She has also won the Gulf Coast Prize in Translation and the Stinging Fly New Translator’s Bursary, and has numerous shorter pieces published online and in print. Read less
Join Our Community
TMR exists thanks to its readers and supporters. By sharing our stories and celebrating cultural pluralism, we aim to counter racism, xenophobia, and exclusion with knowledge, empathy, and artistic expression.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
Lena Merhej was born in 1977 in Beirut to a Lebanese father and German mother. She is the founder of the Story Centre in Beirut, was the director of the Beirut Animated Festival, and has taught illustration and animation at universities in Beirut. Mrabba wa Laban and her comic book Kamen Sine (2009), received the Award for Best Comic at FIBDA (International Comic Strip Festival of Algiers).
![Ali Cherri’s show at Marseille’s [mac] Is Watching You](https://themarkaz.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Ali-Cherri-22Les-Veilleurs22-at-the-mac-Musee-dart-contemporain-de-Marseille-photo-Gregoire-Edouard-Ville-de-Marseille-300x200.jpg)
