Maltese-American cartoonist and journalist, Joe Sacco, who will later on this week, be speaking at the Aula Magna of the Valletta Campus, will, on Friday 17 November 2023, receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Literature by the Faculty of Arts of the University of Malta.

The Faculty of Arts together with the Humanities, Medicine and Science Platform (HUMS) are leading the efforts for this event at the University.

Literary critic Edward Said recently praised Joe Sacco’s “uncanny ability to catch the telling detail” of his “wondrously varied” cast of characters through his distinctive pen strokes. In a recent interview with the Times, Sacco talks about how varied humanity is, and that his trick is to be attentive to basic attributes then infuse that spirit into a drawing. “It’s more about paying attention and an empathetic outlook”, he says.

Joe Sacco was born in Malta in 1960. A year later his family immigrated to Melbourne, Australia, where he spent his childhood. In 1972, his family relocated to the United States. In 1978, Sacco majored in journalism at the University of Oregon, and in 1986 he started working for Fantagraphics, one of the most distinguished American publishers of independent comics and cartoons. Over the following years, his critically acclaimed strips and graphic novels focusing mostly on war-torn countries and geopolitical issues won him the name of father of comics journalism. In 2012, he earned the PEN Literary Award in Graphic Literature for Outstanding Body of Work.