The journalist Taha Siddiqui discusses his new graphic memoir (written with Hubert Maury) The Dissident Club: Chronicle of a Pakistani Journalist in Exile (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2025), with Joseph Planta.

The Dissident Club: Chronicle of a Pakistani Journalist in Exile by Taha Siddiqui and Hubert Maury (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2025). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Dissident Club

Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

Taha Siddiqui joins me now. He’s just published a graphic novel in English that if one were to say was action-packed, would be an understatement. His life thus far has been one best told in a graphic novel as he’s survived an assassination attempt in Islamabad, he came of age in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in the years between the Gulf War and 9/11. He grew up in a family that included a stern fundamentalist Islamic father. And even though Taha, who joined me one month ago, rebelled against religion, it was still very much a part of his life intersecting with personal relations and professional pursuits especially after his father joins a jihadi mosque. Taha chronicles in the book all that, as well as going to university and finding journalism. His reporting runs afoul of Pakistani military, and soon he finds himself exiled in France. He joined me from Paris last month, where he had founded the Dissident Club, a bar dedicated to helping political dissidents from around the world. Taha Siddiqui is an award-winning journalist. He’s worked for the New York Times, The Guardian, France 24, the Christian Science Monitor, Al Jazeera, and many other international and local media organisations. The full title of the book is The Dissident Club: Chronicle of a Pakistani Journalist in Exile. Written and illustrated with Hubert Maury, with the English translation by David Homel, it’s published by Arsenal Pulp Press. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Taha Siddiqui; Mr. Siddiqui, good morning.

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