Lena Merhej

• @lena_merhej

Lena Merhej is a visual storyteller and an expert in graphic narration, born from a German mother and a Lebanese father. After studying design, she became illustrator of children’s books and comics and was part of the founding group of the Samandal collective, internationally recognized as a reference group in the publication of comics in Lebanon. In 2015, she defended her thesis on the narration of the war in Lebanese comics at Jacobs University in Bremen. She taught at several universities in Beirut. Her animated Drawing the War (2002) won the New York Festival Jury Prize (2002). In addition, in 2009 her comic book Kamen Sine received the Award for Best Comic at the FIBDA (International Comic Strip Festival of Algiers); in this contest, she was also awarded for her book Mrabba w Labban (2011). In 2019, her work Salam was named best comic Mahmoud Kahil.