Kayfa ta

Kayfa ta is a non-profit Arabic 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. Kayfa ta has grown as an independent curatorial and publishing platform since 2012, operating out of Amman and Cairo.
 
Amman / Cairo
 
12 titles
 
Madhusree Dutta - How to make female action heroes
2023
English edition
Madhusree Dutta writes on hierarchy and exclusion in cinematic practices.
Hussein Nassereddine - How to see palace pillars as if they were palm trees
2023
English edition
The book begins with one single verse of poetry on "Abdallāh - The Slain" (Abdallāh al Qateel), a poet who was killed by the last thing he saw: the columns of the castle as palm trees. The rest of the book is footnotes on each word in this verse, and on the works of this poet, who only exists on the margins of the arabic literary canon.
Merle Kröger - Panorama
2022
English edition
A text by Merle Kröger inaugurating the "Howdunnit" series, part crime literature and part archival research, exploring how different modes of investigation converge and diverge.
Iman Mersal - Archives and Crimes
2022
English edition
A text by Iman Mersal inaugurating the "Howdunnit" series, part crime literature and part archival research, exploring how different modes of investigation converge and diverge.
Amr Ezzat - How to remember your dreams
2021
English edition
A sharp and creative reflection on the interweaving of personal and national/ideological dreams.
Oxana Timofeeva - How to love a homeland
2021
English edition
Russian writer and philosopher Oxana Timofeeva was born and grew up in various parts of the USSR. The book explores the difficulty of reducing one's sense of homeland to one's country alone, the philosophical interconnectedness of movement and rootedness, our plant and animal souls, and how we need to reimagine our desired, fictional if need be, homelands.
How to maneouver - Shapeshifting texts and other publishing tactics
2020
English edition
currently out of stock
The research and series of exhibitions that this publication grew out of, is part of an ongoing project exploring the significant work of individuals, collectives and institutions in the field of alternative art and publishing practices, past and present.
Iman Mersal - How to mend - Motherhood and its ghosts
2018
English edition
A highly personal and sensitive exploration of motherhood.
Natascha Sadr Haghighian - How to spell the fight
2018
English edition
currently out of stock
Following a thread, from string figures though algorithms.
Cevdet Erek - SSS - How to imitate the sound of the shore using two hands and a carpet
2017
English edition
currently out of stock
An in-depth manual for staging a private (or public) performance by Istanbul-based artist Cevdet Erek.
Francis McKee - How to Know What\'s Really Happening
2016
English edition
In this post-truth era, how does one navigate the endless information available and choose a viable narrative of reality? In How to Know What's Really Happening Glasgow-based writer and curator Francis McKee looks at various techniques for determining verity, from those of spy agencies and whistle-blowers to mystics and scientists.
Haytham el-Wardany - How to disappear
2013
English edition
This publication proposes a set of aural exercises that show readers how to disappear, reappear, join a group, or leave a group. Its annex is a lexicon of some of the sounds that dwell in or are banished from the middle-class household.
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