UQP sells 'The Nightmare Sequence' rights to the US & UK
We are thrilled to announce that the University of Queensland Press (UQP) has sold North American and UK rights to The Nightmare Sequence, a collection of illustrated poetry by Omar Sakr and Safdar Ahmed, to Nightboat Books and the87press respectively, in separate deals brokered by UQP rights and contracts manager Erin Sandiford.
The Nightmare Sequence is a collaboration by poet Omar Sakr and visual artist Safdar Ahmed that ‘bears witness to the ongoing atrocities in Gaza’.
UQP says:
Through poetry and visual art, Omar Sakr and Safdar Ahmed testify to these historic injustices, while also critiquing the role of art and media—including their own—in responding to current events.
Sakr‘s and Ahmed’s royalties will be donated to Palestinian charities, and that they have already donated their advance payments to Palestine Australia Relief and Action.
Sakr says:
I’m really thrilled that this important book will be released in the UK and US, with two fantastic presses I admire. These poems have already travelled so far; several have been translated and published in French, in Arabic, and soon in Urdu. Now, in this book, they can do even more as Safdar and I will be donating our royalties to Palestinian charities, as we have already begun to do here. These deals mean we can give more, alhumdulillah.
Ahmed says:
I’m delighted that The Nightmare Sequence, containing my art and Omar Sakr’s moving poetry, will be published for audiences in the US and UK. My drawings for this book attempt to resist processes of dehumanisation and think about how we foster compassion, support and solidarity. To this end, it means a lot that all of our royalties will be donated to Palestinian charities.
the87press director Azad Sharma says:
the87press is extremely proud to work with Omar, Safdar and publishers in the US and Australia to bring this incredibly important, prescient, and moving work of art and poetry to a British and Irish readership. The Nightmare Sequence is an aesthetic investigation into the horrors of genocide, reflecting the voice of the majority of the world’s population, who are in support of Palestinian freedom and the end of settler colonialism. Its documentary-infused poetics will serve as a reminder that artists and poets continually collaborated to find ways of expressing solidarity, raising mutual aid through royalties (as this book will do), and contributing to the long-term project of a liveable future free of destruction. I commend Omar and Safdar for their courage in producing this work and look forward to working with UQP and Nightboat Books to ensure this book reaches as many as possible to keep Palestine in their hearts and minds.
Lindsey Boldt, Editorial Director of Nightboat Books says:
Nightboat Books is honoured to publish The Nightmare Sequence by Omar Sakr and Safdar Ahmed in North America. The stark clarity of Sakr's poems set in rhythmic conversation with Ahmed's arresting graphic images cut through the heavy layers of obfuscation laid by Israeli and American governments to hide the fact of the genocide they continue to commit and sponsor, reminding readers of our brutal shared reality. We are heartened by the solidarity this book has already inspired through the process of its publication and are eager to witness the international network of mutual aid its authors have so effectively generated grow.
Aviva Tuffield (publisher) says:
The Nightmare Sequence is a book that, shamefully, only becomes more relevant with every passing day. It is a powerful testimony that will sit alongside documents, such as Amnesty International’s recent report that concludes that a genocide is being committed in Gaza, in years to come as we try to comprehend the events of the fourteen months. As well as serving as a vital creative record for decades to come, The Nightmare Sequence reaffirms the power of poetry and visual art to shift hearts and minds in a different way from, say, reportage and photojournalism.
The Nightmare Sequence will be published with UQP in April 2025, and Nightboat Books and the87press plan to follow suit in the Northern Hemisphere autumn of 2025.