This collection supports and promotes awareness to the important mission and framework of the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition's focus on the lasting power of the written word and the arts in support of the free expression of ideas, the preservation of shared cultural spaces, and the importance of responding to attacks, both overt and subtle, on artists, writers, and academics working under oppressive regimes or in zones of conflict, despite the destruction of that literary/cultural content.

"My book is both a lament for lives lost and a testament to the enduring nature of books and learning. Formally, the work is like a book - but its pages tell a visual story of grief. The names of those who died in the bombing are written on the ribbon that winds through pages of cut away text blocks. These names represent only a few of the many thousands of Iraqis who have lost their lives in the war. But hope continues for growth and renewal in this land that has been the home of civilization for millennia"--Artist's statement from the Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UK website.

Donna Ruff grew up in Miami Beach, Florida, and was an award-winning children's book illustrator in New York before earning her MFA at Rutgers University in 2000. She has been chosen to create site-specific installations at the Eldridge Street Project and at PS 122 in New York, and for ArtSPACE in New Haven, Connecticut. She received grants from the NewArt Center, Massachusetts, Manhattan Graphics Center, Vermont Studio Center, Santa Fe Art Institute, and Tamarind Institute. Exhibitions include Speaking Volumes at the Kohler Art Center, Fire Works at the Hunterdon Museum, Paper[space] at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, 4th International Graphic Trienniale in Prague, and Feedback: Artist to Artist at Kunstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin. Her work was included in Book Art: Iconic Sculptures and Installations Made from Books, by Paul Sloman. She currently teaches at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, and divides her time between New York and Santa Fe.