MALAKA GHARIB is an artist, journalist, and writer based in Washington, D.C. She is the founder of The Runcible Spoon, a food zine, and the co-founder of the D.C. Art Book Fair. She lives in a row house with her husband Darren and her 9-year-old rice cooker.

“This charming graphic memoir riffs on the joys and challenges of developing a unique ethnic identity.” – Publishers Weekly

“I Was Their American Dream is a pure and utter delight. With both a deft lightness and a deep poignancy, Malaka Gharib perfectly captures the feeling of growing up—of being a child of immigrants, of being a woman of color, of being thrown in the mix between cultures, of love, of family—with nostalgia, humor, and heart…I adored this book.” —Jonny Sun, New York Times best-selling illustrator of Gmorning, Gnight! by Lin-Manuel Miranda

A triumphant tale of self-discovery, a celebration of a family’s rich heritage, and a love letter to American immigrant freedom.

I Was Their American Dream is at once a journal of growing up and a reminder of the thousands of immigrants who come to America in search for a better life for themselves and their children. The daughter of parents with unfulfilled dreams themselves, Malaka navigated her childhood chasing her parents’ ideals, learning to code-switch between her family’s Filipino and Egyptian customs, adapting to white culture to fit in, crushing on skater boys, and trying to understand the tension between holding onto cultural values and trying to be an all-American kid.

ALLI KATZ is a writer and cartoonist. Her work has appeared in the NewYorker.com, Electric Literature, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Weekly, and elsewhere. Alli is also known for her etch-a-sketch portraits of album covers. She is from Chicago and lives in Philadelphia, where she is the program coordinator at Kelly Writers House.