"Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here, Part Two" reception this Sat. at Institute Library

The Institute Library
847 Chapel St., New Haven, (203) 562-5045
Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here, Part Two
Through May 3, 2014.
Reception: Sat., Apr. 5, Noon—2 p.m.

Press release from Stephen Vincent Kobasa

On March 5th 2007, a car bomb was exploded on al-Mutanabbi Street, the historic center of Baghdad bookselling. More than 30 people were killed and over 100 were wounded. In response to this attack upon a cultural treasure of the Iraqi people, the poet and bookseller Beau Beausoleil founded the al-Mutanabbi Street Project which to date has assembled 130 broadsides by letterpress artists, 260 artist books, and a literary anthology Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here with contributions by over 125 writers from around the world.

Also included, on special loan from the artist, is a book by Daniel Heyman, Sing With A Lovely Voice, hand-printed from woodblocks based on watercolors drawn during interviews which were part of a fact-gathering mission concerning torture and abuse at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq.

This is the second of two exhibitions curated by Stephen Vincent Kobasa out of this larger collection. There will be a panel discussion on books in a time of terror on Sat., Apr. 5, at noon.