Isn’t that the most fascinating book title? It is the title of the first book ever printed in Scotland, 500 years ago, which gives them cause to celebrate the year 2008 as “Year of the Printed Word”. As part of this celebration, the Owl & Lion Gallery in Edinburgh has organised an exhibition exploring the art of the book. If you have a chance to visit, the exhibition will be open from 20th June until 11th July, 11am-6pm. One of the two artist books on display from me is, quite by coincidence, titled “Knight’s Prayer”.

Although still a while away, as this exciting event just got announced, I thought to include the news here. The inaugural four day event of Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature will take place in Dubai between 26th February and 1st March 2009. Among the confirmed speakers at the event will be one of my literary heroes - Paulo Coelho. EAIFL is set to become an annual event, bringing together people of all nationalities and cultures to celebrate literature and reading in all its forms.

I will be teaching a 1-day bookbinding course at DIAC, Dubai International Arts Centre on Saturday the 10th May. You can register either by paying the course fee at DIAC in person, or contact me to pay via PayPal online. The day will be very intensive as we’ll cover a lot in a very short time, but you’ll go home with a completed book and fully inspired to carry on making more! Read the course description on the book arts courses section on this website. The cost of the day is 600AED whether you are a member of DIAC or not - materials are included in the course price.

For those in the vicinity, this exhibition should be well worth seeing. ‘Blood on Paper’ is showing at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London from April 15th until June 29th 2008. “The exhibition selects books which reveal both the creative process and the soul of the artist in question. Some are iconic works which established the genre of the livre d’artiste after the Second World War; others are surprises from artists who are best known for their work with other sorts of material.”

‘Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East’ was on show at the British Museum in London in May 2006 and is now showing in Dubai International Financial Centre 7 February – 30 April 2008.  The exhibition focuses on the way writing has been used in modern art.  Incredible art works.

This group exhibition, originally to start on 27 March, has been postponed and is now scheduled to take place from 19 June until 9 July 2008. Two of my artist books will be on show.

For those of us who were unable to make it to see these treasures at the Grolier Club in New York in 2006, another chance is coming up.  This exibition will be in the Historic Reading Room of the John Rylands University Library in Manchester, England, from 4 June through 18 October of 2008.

‘Art Dubai’ is held every March in Dubai, this being its second year. The year the dates are 19-22 March 2008. It’s a vast showcase of both Middle Eastern and Western art, with several respected international galleries attending. If last year is anything to go by, this really is something to shout about.

GalleriaMia website launched in April 2003. Now, five years later, it is time for a full update which includes this new domain, Leijonstedt.com - all the content from the previous site has been brought over and is still viewable here. I hope this new version is even more useful for those of you thinking of commissioning a unique book. For me, this certainly offers a lot more scope for expansion too and you’ll see updates much more often. As the whole Leijonstedt site is built in a blog format, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed if you wish. While this site offers no comment function, you’re always more than welcome to drop me an email with your comments or questions.