Zeina Abirached believes that Paris would be perfect if it had a sea. She was born in Beirut and when she moved to the French capital her skin had already become accustomed to the Mediterranean climate and salt water; yet she found in the city of lights a place that allows her to make books as she knows best: with precise dialogues, sounds everywhere and black and white drawings. She believes that color can distract from the message she wants to give and feels she doesn't need it. When Zeina draws, Mozart, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Egyptian music from the 50's are playing. But when she writes there is silence: she needs only to listen to herself.
When it comes to choosing stories, she prefers those she knows, those she has lived. She thinks of language - all languages - as a home, as a place where she feels at home. She does not usually draw anything if it is not linked to a text. For her, writing and illustrating go hand in hand. She speaks Lebanese, French, English, but she says that of all the forms of language, the one she likes the most is drawing because it reaches everyone, because anyone can identify with it, even if the letters of their alphabets are different. In Lecturas we asked her some questions and asked her to answer them in the language she prefers.
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What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?​​
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What does Beirut mean to you?
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What does Paris mean to you?
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What does your workplace look like?
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What is your happy place?
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What is the theme you explore most in your work?​
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How do you imagine Colombia?
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​​​​A Spanish version of this article was published in Lecturas El Tiempo in 2017 in print and in 2022 online.​​
