Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Agent, graphic novel, shiny misfits
Maysoon Zayid & Shadia Amnin Sell New Graphic Novel, Shiny Misfits
Comedian, actress, and disability advocate Maysoon Zayid is writing a new middle-grade graphic novel, Shiny Misfits, drawn by Shadia Amin. Emily Seife at Scholastic Graphix has bought North American rights to the book. "After the boy of her dreams becomes a viral sensation for catching her as she's falling, Bay Ann Musa, a disabled 11-year-old, sets off on a quest for superstardom on her own terms."
Maysoon Zayid was one of America's first Muslim women comedians. An actress on As the World Turns for two years, frustrated by lack of opportunity, she turned to stand-up, and co-founded the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival in 2003 with comedian Dean Obeidallah. She also spends three months a year in the Palestinian territories, running an arts program for disabled and orphaned children in refugee camps. She tweeted the news, saying "Drum Roll!!!! I can officially share that I am teaming up with my lost twin the extraordinary @shadiaminart and @Scholastic for my first #comicbook #ShinyMisfits #DisCo #ArabTwitter"
Shadia Amin is a Colombian comics artist and illustrator who graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a BFA and MFA in Sequential Art and a BFAMinor in Illustration, and is known as an artist on Aggretsuko and Spider-Ham.
Shiny Misfits will be published in 2023. Maysoon Zayid's agent Janine Kamouh at WME and Shadia Amin's agent Jennifer Azantian at Jennifer Azantian Literary Agency negotiated the deal. Scholastic Corporation is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes comics, books, and educational materials for schools, parents, and children. Its books are distributed through retail and online sales and through schools via reading clubs and fairs, and its comic book line Scholastic Graphix has helped to make Scholastic the biggest comic book publisher in North America. This kind of publishing extension using other brands, with graphic novels being one of many options for extending an idea is another sign of major growth in the graphic novel market in bookstores, libraries, and book fairs, as well as the greater range in content and comic book styles being published.