Alpha

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” selection
School Library Journal “Best Adult Book 4 Teens” selection
Comics Journal “Best Comic of the Year” selection

“Barroux’s raw illustrations and Bessora’s matter-of-fact text express the inhumanity at the heart of the refugee crisis.” —School Library Journal “Best Adult Book 4 Teens” citation

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 that received the PEN Promotes Award and Doctors Without Borders Prize, and was longlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal. The U.S. edition is sponsored by Le Korsa, a nonprofit organization devoted to improving human lives in Senegal.

Bessora is an award-winning writer of Swiss, German, French, Polish, and Gabonese heritage whose work has been anthologized in Best European Fiction.

Barroux is a French graphic artist who spent much of his childhood in North Africa and whose illustrations have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Forbes.

Author Biography

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, forthcoming from Bellevue Literary Press, is her first graphic novel. She lives in Paris.

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, the graphic novel Line of Fire, based on the diary of an unknown soldier from the First World War, and the graphic novel Alpha, forthcoming from Bellevue Literary Press. His illustrations have also appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Forbes. He lives in Paris.

Sarah Ardizzone is an award-winning translator from the French. She is the translator of the graphic novel Alpha, forthcoming from Bellevue Literary Press, and over forty other titles including The Little Prince Graphic Novel, a New York Times Notable Book. Ardizzone has twice won the Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation. She also curates educational programs, including Translation Nation, Translators in Schools, and the Spectacular Translation Machine. She lives in London.