A curious cat and a parrot mafia boss served as unlikely ambassadors for Emirati culture at New York Comic Con in October, where comic book writer Noora Al Awadi presented her work to readers whose picture of the UAE has often been shaped by stereotypes.
Al Awadi appeared at the four-day convention through Sandstorm Comics, the Abu Dhabi studio behind her titles. For her, the trip was about more than selling books. It was a chance to speak directly to people holding misconceptions about wealth and the position of women in the Emirates. Face-to-face conversation, she found, could do what headlines often cannot.
“I loved even talking about my culture with them and making them understand who we actually are from our own mouths,” she told The National. “I’ve always wanted to not just share stories. I wanted to share our stories and our values and our culture with the world.”
Her account of the convention, published by The National, is available here: https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/2026/11/01/from-abu-dhabi-to-new-york-comic-con-how-noora-al-awadi-is-telling-emirati-stories-to-the-world/
Among the encounters that stayed with her were those with Arab and Muslim families living in New York. Parents were especially eager to find stories that could introduce their children, many of whom had never left the city, to a culture they recognised as their own. For Al Awadi, that response confirmed the value of putting Emirati stories in front of readers who rarely see themselves reflected in mainstream comics.
Her two titles approach Emirati identity from very different directions. Tamtoom, co-written with Mo Abedin, follows a curious cat exploring life in the UAE. Its first instalment centres on the kandura, the traditional garment worn by Emirati men. The cat wonders why the people around him appear to be dressed like clouds, and the question opens a wider exploration of the garment and its cultural significance.
The book was conceived partly to introduce Emirati traditions to children unfamiliar with the country, but Al Awadi found it resonated closer to home as well. Her nephew, after reading it several times, began insisting on wearing a kandura at home. “It’s giving them pride,” she says. International visitors responded too. She remembers a Chinese couple who bought a signed copy because they wanted something that would help them learn about the country they were visiting. She hopes to expand Tamtoom into a series covering other aspects of Emirati life, including women’s traditional clothing such as the mukhawar and abaya.
Her other comic, Mato, takes a less conventional path. Inspired by her own pet parrot, she imagines the bird as a mafia boss navigating friendship, betrayal and a rivalry with another bird named Bulbul. “It’s based off what I think my parrot does when I’m not around,” she says. The villain draws on another family pet, a bulbul belonging to her father. Al Awadi jokes that her dislike of the bird helped determine its fictional role, despite it being her father’s favourite.
The story unfolds in Abu Dhabi, with references to the city’s roads, clothing and surroundings woven into the action. Al Awadi wanted a story that could appeal to readers anywhere while introducing them to the UAE without making its culture the central subject. The approach appeared to work in New York, where Mato was the stronger seller of the two titles. Readers came for the action, mystery and rivalry, and discovered the Emirati elements along the way. “We know Hollywood from the movies, so why not know UAE from our comics?” she says.
Her path to published writer was far from straightforward. She studied management information systems and moved into corporate roles centred on analytical work. “I loved analytical work and I’m really good at it, but I felt like my creative side was suffocated,” she says. Writing brought her back to something she had enjoyed since childhood. One of her earliest surviving notebooks, from grade 5, holds comics, illustrations and characters she invented for classmates and friends, among them a cowardly lion that foreshadowed her fondness for animal characters.
She later established a creative venture, writing stories, producing animations and handling the many responsibilities of running projects herself. For about a decade she carried that load alone before eventually abandoning the business. Meeting the Sandstorm Comics team changed her approach. She realised she could collaborate with others and focus on creating stories rather than managing every stage of production.
Her ambitions now reach beyond comics for younger readers. She has completed a manuscript titled The Last Pearl Diver, which she describes as an attempt to create a legend around the beginnings of the UAE, and she is seeking a publisher. Another project, Marine Diaries, is a slice-of-life story about a girl who moves to the countryside to study marine biology while navigating friendships and unfamiliar surroundings.
Having experienced the difficulty of building a creative career, Al Awadi offers aspiring writers grounded advice. Self-publishing platforms have made it easier to release work independently, she says, but competition remains considerable. Writers need to develop their marketing abilities or build professional connections that could lead to publishing opportunities. “One hundred per cent go for your dream, but be smart about it,” she says. She encourages young writers to attend industry events, meet people and prepare a portfolio so they have work ready when an opportunity arises. Discipline matters as much as creativity, she adds; meeting deadlines and building a reputation for reliability can turn initial connections into lasting professional relationships. “Once you build your reputation with someone in your network, that is what will get you further opportunities,” she says.
For a writer who once wondered whether culturally specific work would find buyers abroad, the answer from New York was clear. Stories rooted in the kandura, the streets of Abu Dhabi and the values of the UAE’s Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, found readers far from home, and Al Awadi intends to keep writing them.