Author (Sherine) and Illustrator (Myra) of
Landing in Place, (Kokila, 2025)
Sherine Hamdy is a faculty member at University of California-Irvine in the Department of Anthropology and Myra El Mir is an illustrator based in Beirut.
Sherine Hamdy’s academic book, Our Bodies Belong to God: Organ Transplants, Islam, and the Struggle for Human Dignity in Egypt (UC Press) is taught widely in courses on Islam and medical anthropology throughout the country. She is also the co-author of the graphic novel Lissa (Still Time). Born in New York to Egyptian parents, she grew up in Mexico City and currently lives in Irvine, CA with her husband and two daughters.
Myra El Mir has illustrated several books published in the Arab World, including two books by Samar Mahfouz Barraj: Khatt Ahmar (Red Line) (Dar al Saqi Press), which won the Arab21 award in 2015, and Ummi wal-tadkhin (Mom Smoking) (Asala Press) which was shortlisted for the Etisalat Award in 2012. Myra has also worked on animation, including the “Adventures of Salwa”, a Lebanese campaign against sexual harassment that aired on Lebanese television and cinema.
Sherine Hamdy & Myra El Mir
Books by Sherine & Myra
Landing in Place, (Kokila, 2025)
A poignant coming-of-age graphic novel about an Egyptian American girl’s grappling with college, her family, and the political realities of her wider world.
Anisa is following in her sister Reem’s footsteps: She’s a freshman at her sister’s alma mater, she’s on the same premed track, and she’s inherited Reem's old hotpot, mini-fridge, and textbooks. Even though Anisa would prefer to study art, her parents don’t see that as a valid career choice. The path laid out before her starts to crumble as Anisa feels she doesn’t belong -- either in her organic chemistry class or among the other Muslim students on campus.
When Anisa fails her first semester, she begs her parents to let her take time off and stay in Cairo with her beloved grandfather. Finally free to have her own experiences, Anisa begins a journey of self-discovery and develops her own artistic voice as she bumps up against familial, societal, and religious expectations. When Anisa returns to the United States, many of these expectations shift, but she learns to draw on the love of friends and family -- including those she’s often at odds with -- in order to stay true to herself.