{"id":6929,"date":"2026-11-09T05:32:19","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T10:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.madeinliban.com\/samandal-made-in-lebanon\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T05:32:19","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T10:32:19","slug":"samandal-made-in-lebanon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madeinliban.com\/ar\/samandal-made-in-lebanon\/","title":{"rendered":"Samandal | Made in Lebanon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Beirut comics collective and trilingual comics magazine, publishing anthologies and graphic novels since 2007.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Samandal<\/strong>, Arabic for salamander, is a volunteer-run comics collective founded in Beirut in 2007 by Lena Merhej, Omar Khouri, Hatem Imam, Tarek Nabaa and Fadi Baqi. Its magazine mixes Arabic, French and English, and comes out in changing shapes and sizes, with loosely affiliated artists contributing to each issue. Over the years it has published 18 magazines, seven anthologies, six graphic novels, zines and a set of Arabic online comics for teenagers. In 2019 it won the Alternative Comics Prize at the Angoul\u00eame International Comics Festival, and the same year AUB&#x27;s Arab Comics Initiative gave it the Comics Guardian Prize. It also runs workshops, including with refugees in the Bekaa and in public schools. The collective has paid a price for its freedom: a 2009 lawsuit over a caricature ended with a $20,000 penalty.<\/p>\n<h2>Brand Information<\/h2>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Brand Name<\/th>\n<td>Samandal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Based In<\/th>\n<td>Beirut<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Founded<\/th>\n<td>2007<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Founders<\/th>\n<td>Lena Merhej, Omar Khouri, Hatem Imam, Tarek Nabaa, Fadi Baqi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Products<\/th>\n<td>Comics magazine issues, comics anthologies, graphic novels, zines, online comics for teenagers, comics workshops<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Description<\/th>\n<td>Beirut comics collective and trilingual comics magazine, publishing anthologies and graphic novels since 2007.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2>Samandal at a glance<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Founded in Beirut in 2007 by five artists<\/li>\n<li>Won Angoul\u00eame&#x27;s Alternative Comics Prize in 2019<\/li>\n<li>Publishes in Arabic, French and English<\/li>\n<li>Has released 18 magazines and six graphic novels<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Who is behind Samandal<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Lena Merhej<\/strong> (Co-founder). Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/glob.art\/en\/le-collectif-samandal-comics-lance-une-nouvelle-serie-dessinee-sur-instagram\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">glob.art<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Omar Khouri<\/strong> (Co-founder). Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/glob.art\/en\/le-collectif-samandal-comics-lance-une-nouvelle-serie-dessinee-sur-instagram\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">glob.art<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Hatem Imam<\/strong> (Co-founder). Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/glob.art\/en\/le-collectif-samandal-comics-lance-une-nouvelle-serie-dessinee-sur-instagram\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">glob.art<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Tarek Nabaa<\/strong> (Co-founder). Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/glob.art\/en\/le-collectif-samandal-comics-lance-une-nouvelle-serie-dessinee-sur-instagram\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">glob.art<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Fadi Baqi<\/strong> (Co-founder). Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/glob.art\/en\/le-collectif-samandal-comics-lance-une-nouvelle-serie-dessinee-sur-instagram\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">glob.art<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<h3>What languages does Samandal publish in?<\/h3>\n<p>Its comics are multilingual, mainly Arabic, French and English, often within the same issue.<\/p>\n<h3>What awards has Samandal won?<\/h3>\n<p>It won the Alternative Comics Prize at the 2019 Angoul\u00eame festival and the Comics Guardian Prize from AUB&#x27;s Arab Comics Initiative in 2019.<\/p>\n<h3>Does Samandal run workshops?<\/h3>\n<p>Yes. It has run comics workshops for refugees in the Bekaa Valley and brought comics into public school classrooms.<\/p>\n<h2>Sources and further reading<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"sources\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arabculturefund.org\/Grantees\/948\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Samandal Association (AFAC)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/glob.art\/en\/le-collectif-samandal-comics-lance-une-nouvelle-serie-dessinee-sur-instagram\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Samandal Comics collective launches new comic series on Instagram (Glob.art)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/atlasobscura.com\/articles\/middle-east-alternative-comics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Middle East alternative comics (Atlas Obscura)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lebanesestudies.ncsu.edu\/?p=68095\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lena Merhej residency (Khayrallah Center, NC State)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Beirut comics collective and trilingual comics magazine, publishing anthologies and graphic novels since 2007. Samandal, Arabic for salamander, is a volunteer-run comics collective founded in Beirut in 2007 by Lena Merhej, Omar Khouri, Hatem Imam, Tarek Nabaa and Fadi Baqi. Its magazine mixes Arabic, French and English, and comes out in changing shapes and sizes, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[162,147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books-publishing-bookshops","category-music-arts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Samandal | Made in Lebanon - Made in Liban<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madeinliban.com\/samandal-made-in-lebanon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ar_AR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Samandal | Made in Lebanon - Made in Liban\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Beirut comics collective and trilingual comics magazine, publishing anthologies and graphic novels since 2007. 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