An Alternative Xanadu

AN ALTERNATIVE XANADU is a poetic sequence documenting the chaotic, shifting organism of a shared house and its inhabitants. Xanadu Housing Co-operative was founded in Leeds in 2004; in their first pamphlet, Tallulah Howarth takes the reader inside the house, moving from room to room—pointing to what has been passed on, what is new, and what has not yet sedimented (and never has, or never will).

The square footage of each room determines the word count of the corresponding poem. The result is a series of images of daily life, familiar and unique, as the boundaries between setting and foreground shift back and forth, and echoes and marginalia emerge across the page. An accompanying floor plan helps the reader avoid getting lost.

Published and lovingly hand-printed with letterpress by Ossa Prints. Released in April 2026.