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When she landed in Cairo in the summer of 2003 at the age of 20, the comic book writer G. Willow Wilson had a degree from Boston University in History, some coursework in Arabic language and literature under her belt, and a desire to "see what life in a Muslim country was really like." Life in Egypt was a far cry from her upbringing in New Jersey and Colorado, and the practice of Islam was unfamiliar to the daughter of lapsed Protestants who put up a tree for Christmas but never went to church. Nonetheless, she found comfort in both the place and the faith.
"I'd never been very good at being an atheist," Wilson confesses. "The spirituality that I gravitated to was very monotheistic monotheism. It made Islam very appealing to me because there were no caveats —no trinity involved, no interesting doctrinal quirks."
Willow immersed herself in Egyptian society, writing for the opposition weekly Cairo Magazine, converting to Islam, and meeting the man she would marry.
Today Wilson lives in Seattle, where she writes the comic book series "Air" and the mini-series "Vixen" for DC Comics and its literary imprint, Vertigo. "Vixen" won a Glyph award for its depiction of African-American characters and issues, and "Air" has been nominated for an Eisner award, making Wilson probably the first Muslim and certainly the first Muslim woman nominated for the comic industry's top prize.
Asked how she reconciles her own modest attire (she typically covers her hair with a scarf or hat) and the sexiness of her protagonist – a flight attendant – in "Air," Wilson differentiates between an artist and her art.
"You want to write stories that are true to themselves," Wilson explains. "If you're writing about non-Muslims, there is no reason for them to be in hijab. It's a very tricky line to walk for a Muslim artist, especially because there's so much tension in the community right now. But I think this is something that artists of all religious traditions have been wrestling with since time immemorial."
Wilson's next project is "kind of a memoir," set to be published by Grove Press.
Posted June 7, 2009
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