UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Published by Graphic Mundi, an imprint of Penn State University Press, "Hakim’s Odyssey, Book 1: From Syria to Turkey" by Fabien Toulmé has been recognized as a finalist in the 24th annual Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards.
As part of its mission to discover, review and share the best books from university and independent publishers, Foreword Magazine Inc. hosts an annual awards program each year. Finalists represent the best books published in 2021. After more than 2,500 individual titles spread across 55 genres were submitted for consideration, the finalists were determined by Foreword’s editorial team. Winners will be decided by an expert team of booksellers and librarians — representing Foreword’s trade readership — from across the country.
The complete list of finalists can be found on the website at this link.
“Being able to revisit the best of a year’s books — titles that are either familiar to us, or that we have the joy of seeing for the first time during judging — is always a pleasure,” says Editor-in-Chief Michelle Anne Schingler. “This year’s entrants represented a thrilling influx of books that we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with. We’re proud of every book that’s moving on to our finalist round.”
“Our goal for Foreword’s INDIES Book of the Year Awards is to be one of the premier programs for independent presses to be recognized for their work,” said Victoria Sutherland, publisher. “After 24 years, I continue to be so very proud of the integrity of our judging process and so grateful to our volunteer librarians and booksellers who will make the winner’s determination based on their knowledge of what their current reader patron pleasures are.”
"Hakim’s Odyssey, Book 1: From Syria to Turkey" is the first in a trilogy of nonfiction graphic novels by Fabien Toulmé, who presents the first-hand account of Hakim, a young Syrian man forced to leave his home, friends, business and family after the bombing of his town and his own arrest. The first book follows Hakim from Syria to Lebanon, Lebanon to Jordan, and Jordan to Turkey, where he struggles to earn a living and dreams of one day returning to his home. Booklist called Book 1 a “stupendous testimony of survival.” It was also a finalist for 46th Annual PROSE Award from the Association of American Publishers in the Nonfiction Graphic Novels category.