Ali's House Comic Strip

Press inquiries:

KING FEATURES SYNDCATE
Claudia Smith
Director of Advertising & Public Relations
(212) 969-7542

Rose Croke
Brand Development and Promotions Manager
(212) 969-7594

E-mail : kfs-public-relations@hearst.com

Margo says:

I am a Palestinian-American and Tom has extensive knowledge in Arab culture. We ultimately decided to create this strip because we feel it's the perfect time, media-wise. Our aim is to make a strip with no politics and no negativity (things that the general media tends to portray Arabs as: political and negative). We want anyone to be able to pick it up and think they understand the characters' experiences even if they aren't the same race or background. But at the same time, we also want the strip to be a tool for better understanding in this country, that Arabs are "normal" just as much as Italians or Greeks or Chinese are "normal" (AKA no one is normal).

Tom says:

I've always wanted to draw comics, explore my world and change society, probably in that order. Working on Ali's House with Margo has been a dream project, allowing me to pursue all these goals. I'm excited to share with the public our crazy little concoctions, concoctions based somewhat on her childhood, somewhat on my experiences in Morocco, Texas, Seattle and New York, and very much on our own senses of humor...

Incidentally, the concept for "Ali's House" came from a purely autobiographical comic Margo created a couple of years back, "THE HOOKAH GIRL." See some pages here:

http://hookah-girl.margoyle.net