Majed Mujad & Kareem James Abu-Zeid: The Book of Trivialities

In a series of evocative vignettes, celebrated Iraqi poet Majed Mujed lyrically traverses the fraught landscapes of beauty, longing and resistance in a country at war. Intricately fusing political and personal histories, The Book of Trivialities speaks to the universal, undying quest for freedom that knows no borders or bounds. A profound, powerful sequence of verse from a poet who once lived through the heart of a revolution, and now lives for the revolutionary heart of love.

These poems, the bittersweet fruit of a malignant place and time, belie the lightness of their title by inviting us to remember the immensities behind them – war, suffering, love and death. Fleeting, disconnected, they feel like insights jotted on the run between here and there, Iraq and Ireland, by a man under pressure, anxious to leave behind him the gleanings of a life. Harry Clifton

The Book of Trivialities is part of Skein Press‘ Solstice Stories series. This series features creative collaborations between writers and visual artists, at least one of whom is from a background traditionally underrepresented in Irish literature and the arts, presented in the form of a high- quality book. It provides a unique developmental space to foster collaboration, with creativity and inclusiveness at its heart. The series is designed to be a celebration of the small, the brilliant, and the beautiful. Skein Press are publishing two of these bespoke books annually to mark the transformation, within and without, occurring on the solstice/equinox dates each year.