JACKET_The Nightmare Sequence.jpg
JACKET_The Nightmare Sequence.jpg

The Nightmare Sequence

£18.99

by Omar Sakr, Illustrated by Safdar Ahmed
Introduction by George Abraham

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.

This book is priced higher to include an author donation to mutual aid for Palestine.

by Omar Sakr, Illustrated by Safdar Ahmed
Introduction by George Abraham

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.

This book is priced higher to include an author donation to mutual aid for Palestine.

Son of Sin
Son of Sin
£11.24 £14.99

ISBN: 9781068751554
192 pages
Date published: 31/10/2025
Paperback

For Fans of: Ghassan Kanafani, Mahmoud Darwish, Wisam Rafeedie.

PRAISE:

“Read cover to cover, it evokes Sakr’s excruciating, sometimes bewildered, experience of bearing daily witness from afar . . . As the people of Palestine continue to suffer systemic violence and dehumanisation, this is urgent, essential work.” —The Guardian

“A searing response to the endless deluge of atrocities that have been committed in Gaza by Israeli forces since October 2023. A stark and painful interrogation of the act of witnessing...” —Lit Hub

“Only a poet as exceptional as Omar Sakr can write our nightmares from within the nightmare—becoming our voice, our very body in the massacre. The Nightmare Sequence left me stunned with gratitude and the deepest emotions that poetry can reveal.” —Najwan Darwish

“With profound love and deep sorrow, paper and ink, words and images, Omar Sakr and Safdar Ahmed have created the story of our time. Each page of The Nightmare Sequence presents a provocative offering. Do we read, look and think? Do we experience anger and shame? Do we feel the tenacity of the people of Gaza? Will we remember their dead? Will we condemn the killers? Or will we move on? Move away and seek the sunshine?” —Tony Birch

“This is one of the most profound and transformative creative projects I’ve ever encountered: I felt both completely devastated and completely renewed by it. Birthed from and through a genocide, The Nightmare Sequence is an astonishingly original collaboration by two artists who are committed to the intimacies of humanity, the details of injustice, and uncompromising truth-telling. In a world that has rejected the Arab as being worthy of life and dignity, read this book to be reminded of the generosity and love of artists who insist on bearing witness to the trauma and humanity of Palestinians.” —Randa Abdel-Fattah

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 Weekender Australian on The Lost Arabs

The Nightmare Sequence brings together poetry from Omar Sakr and illustrations by artist Safdar Ahmed with a scholarly introduction by Palestinian writer George Abraham. Sakr is the acclaimed author of the novel Son of Sin and three poetry collections, including The Lost Arabs, which won the 2020 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry in Australia; and Safdar Ahmed, an award-winning artist, writer, musician and cultural worker. Ahmed’s graphic novel Still Alive won the Multicultural NSW Award and was named Book of the Year in the 2022 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. 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. George Abraham is the author of Birthright which won the Arab American Book Award and was a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Abraham is also the executive editor of MIZNA.

You Might Also Like