Melek Zertal is a French–Algerian illustrator and comic artist, based between Paris and California. She likes to create contemplative, slow reading narratives, all put together by a thorough work of image curation and by washed out pastel colors. She tries to find a way to convey atmospheres that words cannot express, fleeting moments, and unrequited loves. An unforeseen warming sunshine in the midst of winter, last words of a loved one, four hands forging a cherry pie simultaneously. Stories have no beginning, no end; we’re just thrown in the middle of a story that sounds vaguely familiar. She has done illustrations for The New York Times, Gucci, and The New Yorker, and has books out on Colorama in Germany, Perfectly Acceptable Press in the US, Fidèle Editions in France, and Lystring in Sweden.