There's a lot of controversy these days in the publishing industry. Traditional ways of publishing are no longer viable options: they involve killing lots of trees and shipping them around the world to bookstores. Pixels are a lot lighter, and (often) free. Books have to become more than mass market materials, and bookstores have to find new ways to sell them.

I always wanted to have my artwork and words in books, but it's tougher than ever to make a living at it. However, I see this as an opportunity for creative experiments. And I'm collaborating with others who blur the boundaries between art, books and paper in my Sicilian art studio.

Recently I got an email from the first artist I've invited to the studio, Movana Chen. She knits paper into art. I'd given her a copy of my manuscript for Paper Pilgrimage: Bombs, Bandits, and a Vanishing Art in Southeast Asia, printed onto handmade Thai bamboo/mulberry paper.

"this hand make paper look so different than what I usually shredded,

"like fabric, maybe the glue different? look so amazing, love it much"

"really nice with your writing about paper,,sure it will look excellent when knit together in my traveling piece during the coming Sicily trip,^^"

Traveling to Your Bookshelf comes to Sicily — here at the world heritage Greek temples in Agrigento

Movana's just come back from Sicily and has sent photos from the trip. I'll post them soon.

In the meantime, have a look at her video from Sicily (6mins 15seconds) where she films street scenes, an Easter parade, and of course lots of her trademark: knitting paper into art.