War and revolution stimulate creative minds

Childhood memories of wartime Lebanon and street scenes from revolutionary Cairo: Lena Merhej and Mohamed Shennawy embody a trend in contemporary Arab graphic novels that draws its inspiration from real-life events.

Aged 35, Merhej has a German and Lebanese background and works as a graphic designer and illustrator, best known for her drawings inspired by her childhood memories of war-torn Lebanon. In 2007 she also helped found Samandal, a trilingual magazine created to promote graphic artists from her homeland and elsewhere.

Shennawy, 34, is a graphic designer and independent cartoonist. He launched Tok Tok, a graphic magazine for adults, with friends shortly before the January 2011 Egyptian revolution. swissinfo.ch met the two authors in March in Lucerne on the sidelines of the Fumetto festival.