"It is by allowing ourselves to be inspired by our new honorary doctors and by submitting ourselves without complacency to criticism, that we wish to continue our progress towards ever greater responsibility, in the service of social and environmental justice" - Annick Castiaux, Rector of UNamur.

The insignia of Doctorates Honoris Causa will be awarded at a ceremony to be held on September 30, 2024, at UNamur.

From now until then, we invite you to discover each week, the portrait of one of our four Honorary Doctors 2024.

Today: Zeina Abirached

Zeina Abirached is an author, illustrator and cartoonist. Born in Beirut, she grew up at the heart of the Lebanese civil war. A life-changing childhood that would become a source of inspiration for her work.

She studied graphic design at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts before moving to Paris in 2004. There, she studied animation at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs. In 2006, she began to tell the story of her experiences as a child during the war in her first two albums, "(Beirut) Catharsis" and "38, rue Youssef Semaani".

Among her most notable works is "Mourir, partir, revenir - Le jeu des hirondelles", selected at the Angoulême festival and translated into several languages. Zeina Abirached has also won numerous awards for Le Piano oriental (2015), a story inspired by the life of her grandfather, the creator of an innovative musical instrument in 1960s Beirut.

In 2016, she was decorated Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

In 2018, she published Prendre refuge, a graphic novel co-written with Mathias Énard.

In 2023, she illustrates Khalil Gibran's famous text "The Prophet" in a graphic novel of the same name.

Sponsor: Benoît Vanderose, professor at the Faculty of Computer Science

Sponsor: Sephora Boucena, dean of the Faculty of Education and Training

Find out more and register for the ceremony