'autobiographical in the way that it's the Ivory Coast I know. The characters are based on my neighours. They had complicated stories and affairs with men. So the characters and places are things I know in real life. The story itself is fiction'.On the series, Marguerite Abouet also explains:
'That's what I wanted to show in Aya: as Africa without the ... war and famine, an Africa that endures despite everything because, as we say back home, life goes on'.Aya won the 2006 award for Best First Album at the Angouleme International Comics Festival. It also won the Children's Africana Book Award in 2008 and the Glyph Award (in 2008 for Rising Star Award, 2010 for Best Female Character and in both years for best Reprint Publication) and was adapted into an animated film.
Ivory Coast, 1978. Family and friends gather at Aya's house every evening to watch the country's first TV ad campaign promote the fortifying effects of Solibra, "the strong man's beer." It's a golden time, and the nation, too - an oasis of affluence and stability in West Africa - seems fueled by something wondrous.
Who's to know that the Ivorian miracle is nearing its end? In the sun-warmed streets of working class Yopougon, aka Yop City, holidays are around the corner, the open-air bars and discos are starting to fill up, and trouble of a different kind is about to raise eyebrows. At night, an empty table in the market square under the stars is all the privacy young lovers can hope for, and what happens there is soon everybody's business.
The original cast of characters is back in full force, with a case of questionable paternity fanning the flames of activity in the community. The new mother Adjoua has her friends to help with the baby, perhaps employing Aya a bit too frequently, while a new romance leaves Bintou with little time for her friends, let alone their responsibilities. The young women aren't the only residents of Yopougon involved in the excitement, however; Aya's father is caught in the midst of his own trysts and his employer's declining Solibra beer sales, and Adjoua's brother finds his share of the city's nightlife.
Aya: Love in Yop City (2013) Book Two
This second volume of the complete Aya includes unique appendices, recipes, guides to understanding Ivorian slang, street sketches, and concluding remarks from Marguerite Abouet explaining history and social milieu. Doesn't it sound fascinating!!!!! Luckily I did get a copy over the holidays while I was in Canada, but it was Volume 3 - so it is all by itself on my shelf waiting for the other volumes to come find it. They will come soon. Until then, here is a look inside Aya: