New items in the shop, and free mini print all weekend

Our shop page now has a bunch of new items, and all print sales made this weekend will come with this free 8.5×11″ mini print!

In addition to the newly added full-size prints, many of which include donations to some amazing non-profits, we’ve also introduced a Mini-print Mystery Box. Are you brave enough to let Molly choose your prints for you? The Mystery Box includes three mini-prints that span different eras of Molly’s career, but you don’t know what you’ll receive until it arrives. This item is only for the bravest art lovers. Get yours here.

 

Head over to https://mollycrabapple.com/shop/ to see whats new!

 

Tata Literature Live! Festival, Mumbai

Molly will be in Mumbai this week to speak at the ninth annual Mumbai International Literary Festival, AKA Tata Literature Live! Now spanning three different venues across Mumbai, the festival brings together writers and lovers of literature from around the world. Molly will be joining over 100 other writers and speakers for a weekend filed with panels, workshops, and performances.

On November 17th Molly will join Harnidh Kaur, Kalki Koechlin, Richa Kaul Padte and Sunita Wazir for a panel titled “Code of Conduct: The New Rules at Work”

“In light of the #MeToo movement, it has become clear that we need new rules of conduct both in the workplace and in the private sphere. While rules against sexual harassment in the workplace have been in place for decades, the culture of shame, secrecy, and exploitation has rendered the rules largely ineffective in protecting employees against predatory behavior.  Thanks to social media, a paradigm shift has occurred and a large number of victims have been able to come forward with their stories, exposing the systematic use and acceptance of sexual harassment.”

November 18th Molly will be joining journalist Peter Griffin for a conversation titled “Graphic Journalism: Going Where Words Cannot” at St Pauls Institute of Communication Education.

If you happen to be in Mumbai for Diwali, be sure to check out the tons of events going on at Tata Literature Live!

“The Girl Who Seized The Internet” in the New York Times

“Tara Fares has more honor than the members of Parliament and the Iraqi politicians. Because Tara doesn’t swear at people. Tara doesn’t speak in sectarian language. Tara doesn’t suck the blood of the Iraqi people.”

Molly’s latest article “The Girl Who Seized the Internet” has been published in the New York Times. This piece tells the story of Tara Fares, popular Instagram model and Miss Bagdad 2015, who was murdered recently. To learn more about Ms. Fares’ life and bold social media presence in Iraq, be sure to check out the full article here.

“Violent patriarchy may have killed Iraq’s Instagram queen, but in her brief, vivid life, she seized the internet’s possibilities for self-determination. In her death, she remained an irresistible icon.”

 

Recent press for Brothers of the Gun

In addition to having been longlisted for the National Book Award, Brothers of the Gun is continuing to receive some wonderful reviews from all over the world. 

The New York Times recently reviewed several illustrated pieces including Brothers of the Gun for an article entitled “Comics of Violence and Nostalgia from War-Torn Syria”. Be sure to take a look and see some more complex and creative opinions about the Syrian war.

Middle East Eye profiled Marwan for this piece, “The road from Raqqa: A Syrian author lives to tell his tale” where he speaks about collaborating with Molly, and the effects the war has had on him saying “War brings out the best and the worst in people. It is indeed a process of extraction. Only in the imponderable calamity of war one learns what he is truly capable of.”

1843, The Economists’ magazine about culture and ideas, featured Brothers of the Gun in it’s book review “Coming of Age in Syria” saying about the risks that were taken to write the book; “The danger and defiance of Hisham’s and Crabapple’s work only adds to the excitement of reading this dazzling, evocative account of innocence and survival.”

Hong Kong Free Press included Brothers of the Gun in its most recent list of “Best Human Rights Books“, saying “Hisham’s story gives as vivid a sense as any of what it has been like to live through it.” If you’re looking for more amazing literature about human rights, this list is definitely worth looking at.

Brothers of The Gun is available now on amazon and through many major booksellers.

 

Molly speaking at Chicago Ideas Week

Next Monday Molly will be speaking at Chicago Ideas Week. She’ll be joining former Mayor of New Orleans Mitch Landrieu, activist David Hogg and several other esteemed activists and entrepreneurs for a panel entitled “Raising Your Hand: What leadership looks like in 2017.” The panel will take place Monday, October 15th at the Harris Theater in Chicago. Tickets are $15, and there are plenty of other fascinating events throughout the week-long the festival. Get your tickets here.

“As the country faces a dearth of leadership from more traditional sources, “accidental leaders” are stepping up and sparking change, often in unexpected ways. At this Talk, a collection of inspiring forerunners will share their personal narratives, and explain what happened when leadership opportunities were thrust upon them. There is a case to be made that the country is in need of a new generation of people in power who are not afraid to challenge the status quo. At this event, you’ll have the opportunity to hear from four people who are quickly becoming the faces of that generation.”

-Chicago Ideas Week on the “Raising Your Hand” panel 

 

“My Great-Grandfather the Bundist”

“There is a myth that, before Israel, Jews did not fight. Even Hannah Arendt, making her controversial claim that Jewish leadership collaborated across the board with Nazis, falls into this error. The Bund, the elected leadership of Europe’s largest Jewish community, fought from the first day of the occupation to the last.”

 

After a year of research and hard work, this long form article on the history of the Bund, a jewish, armed, socialist, anti-zionist group, and Molly’s great-granfathers involvement within the movement, is finally available. 

“Though the Bund celebrated Jews as a nation, they irreconcilably opposed the establishment of Israel as a separate Jewish homeland in Palestine. The diaspora was home, the Bund argued. Jews could never escape their problems by the dispossession of others. Instead, Bundists adhered to the doctrine of do’ikayt or “Hereness.” Jews had the right to live in freedom and dignity wherever it was they stood.”

Check out the full article here, at the New York Review of Books.

Molly speaking at Montclair Art Museum

This Thursday, October 4th at 7pm Molly will be joining journalist Murtaza Hussain for a discussion about Brothers of the Gun, recently longlisted for the National Book Award. This talk will be one of the many events at Montclair Art Museums ‘Free First Thursday Nights’ series, in addition to a community conversation about artist Kara Walker, docent-led tours of the museum, life drawing sessions, live music, food vendors and a few other exciting events. 

 

Admission is free and the event is from 5-9. Visit the website of the Montclair Art Museum here for more information.

 

Brothers of the Gun longlisted for National Book Award

Brothers of the Gun has been longlisted for the most prestigious literary award in America, the National Book Award. Molly and Marwan would like to congratulate their fellow longlisted authors; Dunya Mikhail, Rebecca Solnit, Steve Coll, and Tayari Jones. Thank you to everyone who has bought the book so far, and The National Book Foundation for this incredible honor.

You can read more about the other books on the longlist here.

Molly and Marwan collaborate for New York Times article about Idlib, Syria

“If the Regime Comes Here, Everyone Will Be Targeted”

By Molly Crabapple and Marwan Hisham

The province of Idlib is the last rebel-held area in Syria. They’re currently bracing for the impending regime invasion that is expected to cause mass destruction and civilian casualties. Molly and Marwan spoke to three citizens of Idlib who described the fear they live in for the New York Times. 

Read the full article and see all of Molly’s illustrations here

“We fall asleep to the roar of fighter planes. We wake up to the same sound in fear. It is very difficult to worry all the time about my children. Everyone is talking about the offensive. We are going to flee and become homeless. If we stay, the regime is going to arrest my sons, if only because they have been dodging the draft for years.”

“We have been living here for years with aerial bombing, but now, if the regime advances, there is no other option for me but crossing into Turkey. I have to save my family. All we want is to stay in our homes and live our lives.”

“We fear nobody would be spared in Idlib.”

If you’re interested in another great collaboration between Molly and Marwan, their book “Brothers of The Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War” is available now.

Molly covers the Texas border crisis for Rolling Stone

“Scenes From an American Tragedy”

This July Molly travelled to the Rio Grande Valley to cover the Texas border crisis for Rolling Stone Magazine. Her article appears in this months issue, as well as on the website which features an extended gallery of illustrations and video interview. She attended immigration court proceedings, visited detention centers, and spoke with families seeking asylum about the inhumane treatment they and their children endured while being detained by ICE. 

“They humiliate us,” a mother from Honduras told me at the McAllen bus station, where hopeful but exhausted migrants go after their often-traumatic initiation into the U.S. immigration system. “With sticks, they beat the metal bars to wake us up. If the children cry, they go after us. There was a child with a fever. They bathed him in cold water and let him lie naked on the floor except for his underwear. The mother was crying because the child is crying. She wants to cover him, but guards tell her she can’t.”

Almost all of the 80 or so defendants in court pleaded guilty. The process took about a minute each. Many of them had crossed into America repeatedly, to work in the fields or in construction, but most of all to be with their U.S.-citizen spouses and children. Prosecutors argued the multiple crossings were the actions of career criminals, who could only be corrected with incarceration.

One woman sat on the floor quietly crying. Poverty had forced her to leave her two sons behind in Honduras, and one had died in her absence. Another mother sat nervously rubbing coins together between her fingers. She left Guatemala with her six-year-old son after her father threatened to hack the family to death with a machete. She told me that most people in custody with her had signed forms in English that they were unable to read, in hopes of being let out of the crowded hielera: “‘What if I never sign, and I’m never let out,’ I thought. I think almost everyone signed. No one knew what those documents said.”

 

Get the full story and slideshow here, or pick up a copy of Rolling Stone this month.

Mystery Box Giveaway!

Starting Today!!!

Any purchase over $100 from Mollycrabapple.com/shop/ enters you to win a fabulous Mystery swag box, valued at over $1000! 

The Mystery Box has books, T-shirts, stickers, autographed rare and retired prints, and many more surprises. A winner will be chosen at random on September 7th and they’ll be sent a brand new collection of artwork and apparel thats no longer available on Mollycrabapple.com, or anywhere else. Shipping on the Mystery Box is complimentary, but this offer is only available to residents of the continental US.

So if you’ve been considering making a purchase from the shop, now is the time. You could end up new collection of artwork, and much more!

Molly in Jakarta and new press

Molly will be in Jakarta, Indonesia next week to participate in The House of the Unsilenced, an art event “bringing together artists, writers, and sexual assault survivors to create new works about survivors’ life and what it means to speak up.”

“We imagine a safe space and strong support for survivors who want to tell their stories, a place where they can explore various possibilities to express themselves”

– Eliza Vitri Handayani, initiator and director of HOUSE OF THE UNSILENCED

Featuring workshops in visual art, performance, writing and creating through various mediums, survivors will be working with participating artists to create work that speaks about their story, and addressing attitudes about sexual assault around the world. Molly will be there creating work about stigma and the ability to safely access reproductive healthcare. You may remember her powerful article in Vice in 2013, speaking up about her own experience with abortion. 

Also this week Vishwajyoti Ghosh gave a wonderful review of Brothers of the Gun for The Wire. He calls the memoir “The account of a real insider, whose stories come to life with the raw, energetic art of Molly Crabapple…This isn’t just a rare book, but also a real one. ..Brothers of the Gun is a heroic effort to weave the tapestry of a saga still unfinished, and yet to be made sense of.”

Book blog Bouxoul also had high praise for the book, saying “It had all the elements that seduce me into reading – History, War, Politics and a Memoir, and to top it with chocolate cream it had stunning Illustrations by Molly Crabapple”

If you haven’t already gotten your copy, its available through amazon, but you can also support Syrian refugees by buying it through the Karam Foundation. 

 

New reviews, and a new way to buy the book and help Syrians!

This week The Cairo Review of Global Affairs described Brothers of the Gun as “an indispensable read that features how ordinary youths change, adapt, and resist, in different forms, in the face of unceasing injustices”. And “a story of hope, fear, devastation, uncertainty, and bravery told through a concise and personal narrative. It is an essential read for anyone who seeks to understand what Raqqa has endured”.

Former US Marine Dewaine Farrina reviewed Brothers of the Gun for The Mantle .He gave an eloquent description of his time in Syria, before and after Arab Spring, and his impressions of the book. Describing Molly as “one of the most influential visual artists of our time” and saying that “(Marwan) demonstrates courage in every sense of the word”. Check out his wonderful piece Sea Stories and Memoirs: A Review of Brothers of the Gun.

There’s also a new way to buy Brothers of the Gun that directly helps Syrians in need…

Buy Brothers of the Gun through the Karam Foundation

The Karam Foundation is a non-profit that began in Chicago in 2007 that provides aid to Syrian refugees. They create education and entrepreneurial opportunities, as well as give direct emergency assistance to recently relocated Syrians. You may remember them from the murals Molly painted at Karam House and in schools in Reyhanli, Turkey in 2015. 

Right now you can buy your copy of Brothers of the Gun directly from the Karam Foundation where proceeds will benefit Syrians in need. While you’re there check out some of the other amazing books about Syria that they carry. Or pick up a set of the “Innovative Leaders” series of greeting cards, illustrated by Molly!

Visit KaramFoundation.org to learn more about the incredible work they do.

“Pretty Things” by Virginie Despentes is now available for pre-order!

“Pretty Things” by Virginie Despentes is now available for pre-order! The latest novel by  Despentes features stunning cover art of Rachel Rabbit White illustrated by Molly Crabapple. 

“It’s pulp in every sense: propulsively readable, violent, sexy, with all the satisfaction of an inevitable ending. And yet it’s also a feminist parable, blunt and unrelenting in its wrath, and it feels as fresh now as it would have ten years ago.” —The Paris Review

You can order your copy now from Feminist Press, and check out some of the other covers Molly has created for Virginie Despentes’s novels, using her friends as models.

Model – Kim Boekbinder

Model – Chelsea G Summers

Drawings from the trial of Jumaane Williams

City Council member Jumaane Williams was convicted today and sentenced to time served for obstructing emergency services. Williams was arrested for blocking an ambulance that was deporting New Sanctuary leader and immigrants rights activist Ravi Ragbir. He is running for Lieutenant Govorner alongside Cynthia Nixon, and was one of 17 demonstrators arrested while protesting Ravi’s deportation by ICE. 

This weeks new press for Brothers of the Gun!

This week Cengiz Yar interviewed Molly and Marwan on Roadsandkingdoms.com for a discussion about what it was like to write a book while one of them was living in an active war zone. Check it out here!

“If you provide an environment where people can return and rebuild their houses without the fear of bombs or getting arrested, people will not hesitate to return home. The major concern for everyone there is the uncertainty of not knowing who’s going to control the city next.” – Marwan

TheFeministani.com said “This story is enthralling… Crabapple has done something extraordinary with these illustrations” in this review. 

“Brothers of the Gun is the story of that takeover, seen through the eyes of a young man, who along with his friends Nael and Tareq, finds his life turned upside-down by revolution and then war. This is the story of people who attempted to live normal lives, as their homes were being blown to bits around them, as enslaved women were paraded in front of them, as European jihadis invaded their land and established the Islamic State.”

And finally this week, the book got this lovely shoutout in the Times Literary Supplement 

“Molly and Marwan’s collaboration began when the latter was living in ISIS-occupied Raqqa: he would smuggle out photos of the city and Molly would turn them into drawings, exposing the brutal reality of ISIS rule without endangering her source. Marwan joined the uprising against Assad in 2011 when he was a student, and the book tells the story of one of the world’s most protracted conflicts through his eyes.”

Have you gotten your copy of Brothers of the Gun yet? It’s available on Amazon in hardcover and for Kindle!

“Blood Money” opening at Lucas Lucas

Blood Money at Lucas Lucas NYC

Opening Receptions: August 10th 7PM, August 11 5-8PM

This intimately interactive art show, hosted by Lucas Lucas (57 Conselyea St BK) features art by Molly Crabapple, Stoya, and many more sex workers and allies. Molly’s portrait of Akynos will be on display, and this six foot tall hyper-detailed painting is best experienced in person. There will be visual art, burlesque performances, exotic dancers, sex worker vendors and much more. The show will up until the 19th, but the real fun will be happening on the 10+11th with an afterparty on the 10th hosted by Domina collective Tailer Group.

This is guaranteed to be a very sexy time where you’ll be able to support sex workers and their art. Hope to see you there!

 

 

New Brothers of the Gun coverage!

Brothers of the Gun is continuing to get a lot of really wonderful press coverage this week:

This weeks episode of the Laura Flanders Show, Telling the Stories of the Syrian War, features an interview with Molly and Marwan Hisham discussing the book, the war in Syria, and their collaboration. 

 

Molly and Hisham sat down for a video interview with the Aljeezera show The Stream to discuss the risks that were taken to write Brothers of the Gun, and tell some of the fascinating stories behind Molly’s illustrations.

“-a story told through the eyes of, not the power brokers or military leaders, but of those caught up in it, those who it began to happen around as they went about their lives.”

 

The Activist Files Episode 4: Molly Crabapple doesn’t stay in boxes

The Activist Files podcast featured this interview with Molly on Episode 4,

“We talk about the intersection of art and activism, collaborations she’s undertaken in support of movements and communities impacted by war and government abuses, and what keeps her grounded, despite the online haters.”

Listen Here!

 

The Columbia Journalism Review featured this amazing review of the Brothers of the Gun,

“Hisham’s detailed anecdotes of jihadists chatting about their daily lives in a modern day insurgency would be difficult to recreate through anything other than first-hand testimony. Without his observations and his writing, such conversations would have otherwise been forgotten. By meticulously researching and cross-referencing her illustrations, Crabapple bends the rules of traditional visual journalism and pieces together Hisham’s memories to recreate scenes of Yezidi women in a cafe in Raqqa, and a young man being pulled from the rubble after a US airstrike—both of which would have been impossible for a traditional war photographer to capture.”

Read the full review here:

“Graphic memoir illustrates new frontier in ISIS coverage“- Columbia Journalism Review

And finally, The Intercept published this piece featuring Brothers of the Gun along with Kassem Eid’s memoir “My Country“,

“Our Country, Our Stories: In New Memoirs Syrians Describe Life -and Death- in Wartime”

“Eid’s and Hisham’s revelatory memoirs come at a critical moment, as everyday Syrians are increasingly written out of their country’s story.”

New Article on Puerto Rican Protest in The Baffler

Molly has written and illustrated a new article for The Baffler about Puerto Rican political prisoner Nina Droz Franco, who was arrested in the 2017 May Day protests. This article is part of Issue 40 of The Baffler entitled “Forced Exposure” which is focusing on privacy and surveillance.

Droz has spent the last year in federal prison, waiting to receive her sentence. Outside, while the island combats the overlapping cruelties of fiscal austerity and post-Maria neglect, players on each end of the political spectrum have adopted Droz as a symbol. To many pro-independence leftists who supported the protests, she is a political prisoner. For the pro-statehood right, she is a folk demon, half-witch and half-terrorist: “The Girl Who Breathes Fire.”

Check out Molly’s full article here: “Trial by Fire – Molly Crabapple”

Or read all the articles featured in Issue 40

When We Fight We Win / ¡Cuando Luchamos, Ganamos! – Show Opening Tonight

Tonight (June 29th), Molly’s original paintings of life in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria will be on view at the Clemente Abrazo Interno Gallery at 107 Suffolk Street in New York. The show accompanies a book anthology of art and writing  on contemporary activism, in which Molly’s work is also included.  The opening reception starts at 7pm and will go until 10pm. 

Join us Friday, June 29th, 7-10pm for the opening reception of When We Fight, We Win! / ¡Cuando Luchamos, Ganamos!   The night’s program will include brief comments from the curatorial team and When We Fight, We Win! authors, as well as performances by AgitArte | Papel Machete and the inaugural presentation of the End the Debt! Decolonize! Liberate! Movement Unity Scroll. 

The When We Fight, We Win! / ¡Cuando Luchamos, Ganamos! exhibition features over 40 artists, cultural organizers and artist collectives whose work bolsters people’s movements and builds solidarity across place, culture and struggle. 

The opening reception will serve as the culminating event of the year-long When We Fight, We Win! Arts & Culture Tour and a celebration of AgitArte’s 20th anniversary. We hope you’ll help us celebrate this project and our victories in struggle. 

Únanse a nosotrxs el viernes 29 de junio, de 7 a 10 pm para la apertura de When We Fight, We Win! / ¡Cuando Luchamos, Ganamos! El programa de la noche incluirá comentarios breves del equipo curatorial y lxs autorxs de When We Fight, We Win!, así como presentaciones de AgitArte | Papel Machete y el estreno de End the Debt! Descolonize! Liberate! Movement Unity Scroll.

La exposición When We Fight, We Win! / ¡Cuando Luchamos, Ganamos! presenta a más de 40 artistas, organizadorxs culturales y colectivos de artistas cuyo trabajo refuerza los movimientos populares y crea solidaridad a través de lugares, culturas y luchas.

La apertura de la exposición será el evento culminante de la Jornada de Arte y Cultura de When We Fight, We Win! Esperamos que nos apoyen a celebrar este proyecto y nuestras victorias en la lucha.