Adhemar Ahmad has been a fixture in the Morningside Heights community for over a decade and was profiled in the Columbia Spectator in 2003 as a book vendor, chess player, and artist. He is a co-founder of NYC Chess, an organization devoted to the promotion of chess and chess education. As creator of Hannibal Barca, c. 259 CE, Ahmad aims for a simplicity that allows for depth—for many possible levels of comprehension. At once a story for children and a cultural corrective, Hannibal Barca chronicles the dream-journeys of young Hannibal in vivid illustrations. Ahmad’s fable presents the world with a vision of a possible past.

Hannibal Barca was selected by the Best American Experimental Writing editorial team as one of the notable books of 2014 that represent the wealth of experimental writing today.