Marguerite Abouet

Clément Oubrerie

The Ivory Coast in 1978 forms the backdrop for the fictional memoir of Aya, the studious, nineteen-year-old heroine, her easy-going friends Adjoua and Bintou, and their meddling neighbors and relatives, all caught up in the simple pleasures of everyday life in Yop City.

Aya of Yop City

“Aya is an irresistible comedy, a couple of love stories and a tale for becoming African. It’s essential reading.” —Joann Sfar, cartoonist of The Rabbi’s Cat Ivory Coast, 1978. It’s a golden time, and the nation, too—an oasis of affluence and stability in West Africa—seems fueled by something wondrous. Aya is loosely based upon Marguerite Abouet’s youth in Yop City. It is the story of the studious and clear-sighted nineteen-year-old Aya, her easygoing friends Adjoua and Bintou, and their meddling relatives and neighbors. It’s a wryly funny, breezy account of the simple pleasures and private troubles of everyday life in Yop City. Clément Oubrerie’s warm colors and energetic, playful line connect expressively with Marguerite Abouet’s vibrant writing. This reworked edition offers readers the chance to immerse themselves in Abouet’s Yop City, bringing together the first three volumes of the series in Book One. Drawn & Quarterly will release volumes four through six of the original French series (as yet unpublished in English) in Book Two. Aya is the winner of the Best First Album award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, the Children’s Africana Book Award, and the Glyph Award; was nominated for the Quill Award, the YALSA’s Great Graphic Novels list, and the Eisner Award; and was included on “best of” lists from The Washington Post, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal.

Aya: Life in Yop City

Stef

This one is like soap opera with dramatic conflic from adultery and family problem. But it is fun to follow. I love the girls friendship, like how they supporting each others even their purpose in life very different. And from this story i knew some new information about ivory coast and how the working class ppl life in Africa.

Aya of Yop City

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