This book explores writings and poems that exist on the margins of canonical Arabic literature. Many such poems exist now only through the footnotes of other documents, referenced but uncredited, republished in part, or lost forever to the endless fragmentation of sources in libraries and within manuscripts. Starting from analyzing a single verse of poetry on Abdallah the Killed (Abdallah al Qateel), who was killed by the last thing he saw; the columns of the castle, this book reflects on Abdallah the Killed, a fictional character that has a real genealogy, who nevertheless only exists in extensive footnotes that expound on his stories, and form the body of this book. An exploration of the idea of uncredited literature, authorship, historiography and its negative space.

Hussein Nassereddine is a Lebanese poet, artist and graphic designer. His works in video, photography, image-making and writing deal with different ideas including fragility, poetics of images, personal and collective memory, history and mythology. He lives and works in Beirut.


Kayfa ta is a publishing initiative that uses the popular form of how-to manuals (how=kayfa, to=ta) to respond to some of today’s perceived needs; be they the development of skills, tools, thoughts, or sensibilities. These books situate themselves in the space between the technical and the reflective, the everyday and the speculative, the instructional and the intuitive, the factual and the fictional. Kayfa ta was founded in 2012 by Maha Maamoun and Ala Younis.