In episode 4, we talk about publishing. It is a publisher to publisher conversation. For this episode we had the pleasure of conversing with Maha Maamoun and Ala Younis, two artists behind Kayfa-ta, a non-profit Arabic publishing initiative. Kayfa-ta uses the popular format of how-to manuals (kayfa=how, ta=to) to publish books that responds to today’s needs, be they skills, thoughts, sensibilities, emotions, tools.
In this episode we talk about the spark that started the idea of Kayfa-ta, and the passions and urgencies that keep it going. We talk about starting a publishing initiative, the labors and hustles of publishing, and financing a publishing initiative. We also talk about what it means to Maha and Ala as well as ourselves to do this work in the cultural field.
This episode has been in the making for many months, and we are happy to have it finally out there. This episode is special because it became a space of thinking about how what we have culturally and politically inherited forms a cultural practice today, and how publishing is also an artistic practice.
Kayfata on social media:
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Music by Beizat (Behzad Abbasy)
This project is made possible with the generous support of Mondriaan Fund.