National Book Council unveils official poster for the 2022 Malta Book Festival

The National Book Council has unveiled its official poster for the 2022 Malta Book Festival putting the spotlight on illustrators and graphic designers 

The National Book Council has unveiled its official poster for the 2022 Malta Book Festival, taking place from the 23 to the 27 of November at the Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre (MFCC), Ta’ Qali.

“This year’s poster is illustrated and designed by children’s author and illustrator Gattaldo around a theme that dates back to the cave dweller - visual storytelling. The festival poster tells a story through images arranged sequentially, like in a silent comic,” the book council said.

The NBC said that an encounter with a book engages the protagonist and gives them a new perspective where they can relate to the story and become it.

“Drawings and paintings predate the written word by millennia. Books are more commonly associated with words throughout our lives, yet the first books we encounter as children are pictures.”

The 2022 Malta Book Festival poster is an ode to the pictures and illustrations that enrich books throughout our reading lives, from alluring images on the front covers persuading us to lose ourselves in the stories within to the genres that have made visual storytelling a literary art.

The spotlight on the role of illustrators and graphic designers forms part of NBC’s renewed commitment to creating synergies with several entities to draw up new initiatives for the benefit of all publishing industry stakeholders.

Among other initiatives, seminars and keynotes of many publishing professions, the festival will feature a ‘from illustration to book’ exhibition, created in collaboration with Arts Council Malta and MCAST and taking place at the MFCC for the duration of the festival.

Gattaldo has worked in Art Direction in advertising and photography throughout Europe. He currently lives in London, and his work was published in the UK and the US. Midsea Books will publish the Maltese-language version of his children’s book Fearless at the end of 2022. A guest at the Festival, Gattaldo will engage with the public in several events with children and publishing stakeholders alike.

Returning to the MFCC, the festival will be boasting a record number of more than 50 exhibitors. Over 8,000 square metres of space is being dedicated to exhibition areas for publishers, booksellers and NGOs, and activity areas for the numerous book presentations and discussions while providing visitors with full accessibility and hassle-free parking.