Publication announcement – ‘Al-Faẓia’ The Horror: Surviving Syria’s Prisons’ – Nov 2026

We are delighted to announce that the English edition of the Survivor-Centred Visual Narrative (SCVN) graphic novel Al-Faẓia’ The Horror: Surviving Syria’s Prisons co-created by graphic artist Tobi Dahmen and survivor Akram Al Saud will be published by the University of Toronto Press in November 2026. The book follows the German edition, released by Carlsen Verlag in May 2026, and brings Akram Al Saud’s story to English-language readers for the first time.

Cover of ‘Al-Faẓia’ The Horror: Surviving Syria’s Prisons’ (November 2026). Photo credit: University of Toronto Press.

Al-Faẓia’ is the result of a close collaboration between artist Tobi Dahmen and survivor Akram Al Saud, built on extensive interviews and personal encounters. In 2010, Akram, then a nineteen-year-old architecture student at the University of Aleppo, was unjustly arrested by the intelligence services of the Syrian air force. His detention, the first of four, lasted nine months. After his release, he joined the revolution against the Assad regime, endured further arrests, and was forced to flee to Europe in 2016. The book portrays his life with authenticity and sensitivity, restoring agency to his experience as a survivor. A substantial appendix provides historical context and a behind-the-scenes look at how the project came to be.

The collaboration was supported by a team dedicated to arts-based, trauma-informed, survivor-centred research and storytelling: editors Dr. Uğur Ümit Üngör and Dr. Charlotte Schallié, and research cluster co-leads Dr. Üngör, Dr. Kees Ribbens, and Dr. Kjell Anderson.

The project’s timing carries particular weight. The manuscript was being finalized when the Assad regime fell in December 2024, which made two significant changes possible: the book can now be distributed in Syria, and Akram’s full name can be associated with it. Neither would have been possible before.

For more information, visit the Al-Faẓia’ project page or our Iraq / Syria Research Cluster page. A companion documentary short film, How to Draw Darkness?, directed by Lidija Zelović, accompanies the book, and the trailer is available on our SCVN YouTube channel here.

Pre-order the English edition of Al-Faẓia’ The Horror: Surviving Syria’s Prisons (2026) from the University of Toronto Press here.

This graphic novel was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and the Government of the Netherlands (Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport).