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.

"Steve initially trained as an illustrator of natural history, and then later took a first degree in Animation, and a Masters in Media. He has worked as a lecturer and technician in universities and colleges in North East England"--Artist's statement from Personal Histories blog (viewed June 22, 2015).