Silver Sprocket Press Release
A poetic and evocative exploration of destiny and survival.
When to Pick a Pomegranate by Yasmeen Abedifard
On sale 09/25/24
“I want to tear these thoughts out of my flesh. How could I forget just how rotten I am?”
In this collection of contemplative and cathartic short comics, the pomegranate Anar and the woman Guli exist as reflections of each other — repellent to one another and yet inexorably drawn together once more. As they evolve through each story, proceeding through the stages of the plant life cycle, they take on new roles: muse and artist, gardener and seed, lover and fruit. The iterations reveal new revelations, exploring the themes of shame, grief, destiny, and survival at each turn.
Abedifard’s comic form evokes Persianate storytelling and draws on stylistic elements found in illuminated manuscripts, building an experience as rich and complex as the taste of pomegranate on one’s tongue.
Paperback | 80 full-color pages | $14.99
7.5″x 8.5″ | 979-8-88620-053-9
“Yasmeen Abedifard does the impossible — using her mastery of form, she melts together seemingly firm panel structures with rich visuals and sparse narrative so visceral, so intimate, it rips open the casual cruelty of every day, making you feel as though the story was actually pulled from the corners of your guilty soul — she does this, and makes it look like a breeze.”
– Nadia Shammas, Squire
Meet the Author
Yasmeen Abedifard is an Iranian artist born in the San Francisco Bay Area and currently based in Oakland. Her work is centered around storytelling mediums, including comics, illustrations, and animation. She is currently teaching in the Comics BFA program at The California College of the Arts (CCA), and has taught various workshops at Kala Art Institute, Berkeley Art Studio, Sequential Artists Workshop, and Black Mountain Institute. Her work has been featured in various spaces, such as the SF Art Book Fair, the Charles M. Schulz Museum, 2727 California, and Jack Hanley Gallery.
In 2023, she won the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Minicomic for Death Bloom (pub. Lucky Pocket Press). She is part of the comics collective D.R.Y. with peers Daniel Zhou and Raul Higuera, aimed at fostering community and highlighting the Bay Area comics scene. You can find her online at www.yasmeenabedifard.net and on Instagram.
