Andy Warner in Beirut

Andy Warner is an artist and writer of non-fiction comics, and an editor for international cartoon platform The Nib.  His books include Brief Histories of Everyday Objects, This Land Is My Land, and Spring Rain: A Graphic Memoir of Love, Madness, and Revolution.

Spring Rain is Warner's memoir of his undergraduate sojourn in Beirut in 2005, studying Arab literature and joining with fellow expatrates to explore Lebanon's diverse culture.  When he arrived, the nation had enjoyed years of relative peace, but within weeks he found himself in the middle of a popular uprising.  As the political fault lines fractured, Warner found his own mental state fracturing as well, with both situations growing increasingly tenuous.

An expanded web-only version of this episode, featuring an extra 20 minutes of content, is available at this link.