Alpha Bessora 9781911370017 [USED COPY]

A timely and important graphic novel account of one man's desperate journey from North Africa to Europe. Alpha brings together prize-winning artist Barroux and novelist Bessora, and comes to the UK market with a foreword by Michael Morpurgo and endorsed by Amnesty International.

Alpha Coulibaly is emblematic of the refugee crisis today - just one of millions on the move, at the mercy of people traffickers, endlessly frustrated, endangered and exploited as he attempts to rejoin his family, already in Europe. With a visa, Alpha's journey would take a matter of hours; without one he is adrift for eighteen months. Along the way he meets an unforgettable cast of characters, each one giving another human face to the crisis. The book is presented in graphic novel format, with artwork created in cheap felt-tip pen and wash, materials Alpha himself might be able to access.

Bessora is a prize-winning French author of Swiss and Gabonese heritage, deeply committed to telling unheard and suppressed stories. In telling Alpha's story, her aim was to create a strong connection between narrator and reader. She says, "Alpha is like your brother, whispering in your ear. You are very close to him. So anyone can identify with Alpha: he raises the question of destiny. Do we take it in hand? What meaning do we give to our life?"
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Sarah Ardizzone is a translator, working from French to English. She has won the Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation two times (2005 and 2009), and the Scott-Moncrieff Prize once in 2007.
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Barroux is a French graphic artist best known as an illustrator for children. He grew up in Morocco and has always wanted to create a book representing contemporary Africa. He settled on Alpha when he met an African refugee in his workplace in Paris. Barroux explains, "His name was - is - Togola and he came to Alice's Garden with no official papers and unable to work although he had been in France for seven years. And I was talking to him and thinking this is so novelistic, you could make such an incredible book out of this man's story."

"Both Alpha's plight and those of the characters he meets give the refugee crisis a human face. Using a limited colour palette and felt-tip pens, the effect is stark and powerful" - The Bookseller

"Once you read this deeply troubling book, passing by, looking away, is no longer an option" - Michael Morpurgo

"Surely more relevant now than ever, and although it is certainly not a sentimental book, Bessora weaves an underlying humanity into this narrative of desperation and degradation" - INIS