The Nightmare Sequence
by Omar Sakr Safdar Ahmed

An extraordinary collaboration by an award-winning duo – poet Omar Sakr and visual artist Safdar Ahmed – that bears witness to the genocide in Gaza

A$29.99

(Paperback)

Ships on 1/04/2025

Overview

The Nightmare Sequence is a searing response to the atrocities in Gaza and beyond since October 2023. Heartbreaking and humane, it is a necessary portrait of the violence committed by Israel and its Western allies.

Through poetry and visual art, Omar Sakr and Safdar Ahmed capture these historic injustices, while also critiquing the role of art and media – including their own – in this time. Born of collective suffering and despair, their collaboration interrogates the position of witness: the terrible and helpless distance of vision, the impact of being exposed to violence of this scale on a daily basis, and what it means to live in a society that is actively participating in the catastrophic destruction of Arabs and Muslims overseas.

With a foreword by Palestinian American poet George Abraham, The Nightmare Sequence is an insightful work of testimony that also considers how art is complicit in Empire. This transcendent book invokes the power of poetry and art to shift hearts and minds; it will serve as a vital record in decades to come.

Details

The Weekend Australian on The Lost Arabs

‘In this collection Sakr reveals himself to be that rare beast: a poet with something to say and the means to say it. This is a book of poetry that surges and whispers and shouts and demands to be read in a sitting.’

The Guardian on The Lost Arabs

‘Thrilling … It is rare for such a collection to be a page-turner but [Sakr’s] poetry demands to be read, digested and re-read soon after.’

NSW Premier’s Literary Awards judges on Still Alive

‘Extraordinary … Ahmed’s work stands out as an example of brilliant storytelling created with and through community, a labour of generosity, and love. It is an unflinching critique of policy and discourse that demonstrates the power of art.’

The Age on Still Alive

‘Arrestingly powerful … Sensitive, heart-breaking, stippled with dark humour, it's hard to imagine a more potent indictment of Australia's immigration detention, or a clearer call to change it.’

Omar Sakr

Omar Sakr is the author of two acclaimed poetry collections, These Wild Houses (Cordite Books) and The Lost Arabs (UQP). The Lost Arabs won the 2020 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry and was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Award, the John Bray Poetry Award, the Judith Wright Calanthe Award, and the Colin Roderick Award. His first novel, Son of Sin (Affirm Press), was published to acclaim in 2022. Omar is a widely published essayist and editor whose work has been translated into Arabic and Spanish. Born to Lebanese and Turkish Muslim migrants in Western Sydney, he lives there still.

Safdar Ahmed

is an award-winning artist, writer, musician and cultural worker. His graphic novel Still Alive won the Multicultural NSW Award and was named Book of the Year in the 2022 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Still Alive also won the 2022 Eve Pownall Award and a Gold Ledger in the 2022 Comic Arts Awards of Australia. Safdar is a founding member of the Refugee Art Project and a member of eleven, a collective of contemporary Muslim Australian artists, curators and writers.