Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo (MICE) Keynote Lecture with Deena Mohamed

Start off the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo (MICE) weekend with featured guest Deena Mohamed – author of the celebrated graphic novel Shubeik Lubeik – in conversation with Joel Christian Gill, chair of the MFA Visual Narrative program as part of the Tuesday Night Lecture Series, which brings artists and designers to BU College of Fine Arts School of Visual Arts to present on their work and practice.

Deena Mohamed, based in Cairo, is an accomplished Egyptian comics artist, writer, and designer. Mohamed began her journey in comics at the age of eighteen with Qahera, a semi-satirical, semi-sincere webcomic featuring a visibly Muslim Egyptian superhero tackling social issues such as Islamophobia and misogyny.

Her passion for the medium extended into academia, where she researched the history of Egyptian comics for her undergraduate thesis in graphic design. This research inspired her to create Shubeik Lubeik, an acclaimed graphic novel trilogy set in an urban fantasy world where wishes are commodities for sale. The first installment of Shubeik Lubeik was self-published and debuted at the Cairo Comix Festival, earning the Best Graphic Novel award and the festival’s Grand Prize in 2017. The trilogy’s English translation was subsequently acquired by Pantheon Books for North America and by Granta for the UK, with the collected volume published in January 2023. In Egypt, the Arabic trilogy was published as three standalone graphic novels by Dar El Mahrousa and is available for purchase.

Beyond her own projects, Mohamed is an experienced freelance illustrator, collaborating with both local and international clients such as Insider, Viacom, Google, UN Women, HarassMap, and Mada Masr. Her work often focuses on community development, awareness, and outreach, with a particular emphasis on editorial illustrations and children’s books.