My last story for de Volkskrant as Africa correspondent was in the paper last weekend.
For that piece, I spoke with comic book artists from various African countries. I was eager to speak with them, as they play a significant role in decolonizing the minds of their readers through their books.
In recent years, I've seen their books about forgotten (read: long-banned) myths and legends, about African superheroes fighting fascism, and also their books on contemporary themes like migration, eagerly read by a growing group of readers.
After all, Africa is the youngest continent in the world. In Senegal, where I lived until recently, the average inhabitant is 19 years old (!). For all those young people in Senegal, for example, who revolted and shared political comics en masse, comic books proved to be an important source of inspiration.
My latest story is also the biggest I've ever written for de Volkskrant: the daily cover and five pages feature the comic books, photos by Carmen Yasmine Abd Ali, and illustrations by comic book creator and visual artist Minas Halefom (art direction by Koos Jeremiasse). And thanks to Adriaan van der Ploeg and Geart van der Pol, the online version is also beautiful!
Many thanks also to de Volkskrant, our fantastic international colleagues, and especially Marjolein van de Water, Carlijne Vos, and Stan Putman for collaborating on and guiding all these stories and the wonderful trips they required.
On to Paris! More on that later.
https://www.volkskrant.nl/kijkverder/v/2025/afrika-comics-striptekenaars~v2284322/