M HKA Ensembles

° 2013

Kayfa ta is a non-profit Arabic publishing initiative established by Maha Maamoun and Ala Younis. By using the form of popular how-to manuals (how = kayfa; to = ta), their project responds to some of today’s perceived needs, be they skills, thoughts, sensibilities, emotions, tools or something else. Rather than being strict transmitters of technical knowledge, these manuals situate themselves in the space between the everyday and the speculative, the instructional and the intuitive, the factual and the fictional.

Haytham El-Wardany is a Berlin-based Egyptian writer and media professional. He has published various short stories and literary works, including a third collection of short stories currently in print with Merit Publishing House, Cairo. In 2005 El-Wardany received the Best Newcomer of the Year Sawiris Prize for Literature. He has participated in a number of art projects in Berlin and in Cairo, including “fast umsonst” for the gallery of NGBK, Berlin (2006). He began his career as a freelance journalist for Akhbar al Adab and other media outlets in Cairo.