“The story of “Me, Fadi, the stolen brother” just needed to be told”

On this chilly but sunny morning, Riad Sattouf, 46, sat on the first floor of the Café de la Mairie, in 3^e district of Paris. White shirt, mischievous eye behind his rimmed glasses, fine trimmed beard, the creator of The Arab of the future is hungry like an ogre. We happily let him devour his eggs and ham and his cheese plate throughout the interview.

For ten years, his autobiographical series recounting a childhood spent between France, Libya and Syria, has established itself. Sold more than 3.5 million copies, translated into 23 languages, and honored with numerous awards including a Golden Fauve at the Angoulême Festival or the prestigious Los Angeles Times Graphic Novel Prize, the six volumes of this saga made the director of the film The Beautiful Kids a somewhat unique author in the world of comics.

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Hailed by the Grand Prix of the Angoulême Festival in 2023, an informed observer of contemporary society, often impertinent and always full of humor, Sattouf has this time undertaken to immerse his readers back into the world of The Arab of the future. With Me, Fadi, the stolen brothera splendid album that is funny and touching to the point of tears (which appears today in bookstores), Riad Sattouf retraces the journey of his little brother, of his happy childhood at Cape Fréhel with his adored mother and his big brothers Riad and Yahya , to his father’s Syria, a harsh and inhospitable territory.