Sad Sack is a book of collected writing by Sophia Al-Maria, taking feminist inspiration from Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1986 essay ‘The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction’; opposing ‘the linear, progressive, Time’s-(killing)-arrow mode of the Techno-Heroic.’ Encompassing more than a decade of work, Sad Sack tracks Al-Maria’s speculative journey as a writer, from the first seed of her ‘premature’ memoir, through the coining and subsequent critique of ‘Gulf Futurism’, towards experiments in gathering, containing, welling up and sucking dry. – Book Works 

This is the second edition of the 2019 publication (now out of print), which includes new writing, an introduction by Taylor Le Melle, and contributions by Abdullah Al-Mutairi, Laura Cugusi, and Simone Fattal.

Sophia Al-Maria (b. 1983 in Tacoma, WA; lives and works in London) is a Qatari-American artist, writer, and filmmaker. The Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, organized her solo exhibition Not My Bag in 2023/24. Al-Maria has presented solo exhibitions at other venues, including Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar; the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow; the Tate Britain, London; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among other institutions. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London; LUMA Arles, France; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the New Museum, New York; the Palais de Tokyo, Paris; and the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing; La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy; and numerous other venues. She has been a writer in residence at the Whitechapel Gallery, London. She is the author of three books: Sad Sack (Book Works, London, 2019), Virgin with a Memory (Cornerhouse Publications, Manchester, 2014), and The Girl Who Fell to Earth (Harper Perennial, New York, 2012).

Paperback, 254 pages

Dimensions: 7.87 in x 5.12 in (200 mm x 130 mm), vertical
Publisher: Book Works
Designer: Tiffany Malakooti
Printer: Aldgate Press, London
ISBN: 978-1-906012-82-3