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8 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 13 JULY 2022 THE National Book Council has published the official poster of the 2022 Malta Book Festival, taking place Wednesday 23 - Sunday 27 Novem- ber 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. An encounter with a book engages our pro- tagonist and gives them a new perspective. They relate to the story and become it. Drawings and paintings predate the written word by millennia. Throughout our lives books are more com- monly associated with words, and yet the very first books we encounter as children are pic- ture books. The 2022 Malta Book Festival poster is an ode to the pictures and illustrations that en- rich books throughout our reading lives, from alluring images on front covers persuading us to lose ourselves in the stories within to the genres that have made visual storytelling a lit- erary art. The spotlight on the role of illustrators and graphic designers forms part of the NBC's re- newed commitment to create synergies with a number of entities to draw up new initiatives for the benefit of all publishing industry stake- holders. Among other initiatives, seminars and key- notes many publishing professions, the Fes- tival 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 Eu- rope. He currently lives in London, and his work was published in the UK and the US. The Maltese-language version of his chil- dren's book Fearless will be published at the end of 2022 by Midsea Books. A guest at the Festival, Gattaldo will engage with the public in a number of events with children and pub- lishing stakeholders alike. Returning to the Malta Fairs and Convention Centre (MFCC), Malta's largest international conference and exhibition venue, this year's Malta Book 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 discus- sions, while providing visitors with full acces- sibility and hassle-free parking. The National Book Council said it remains committed to ensuring the safest possible ex- perience for visitors. In the coming weeks and months the Nation- al Book Council will be announcing the Fes- tival's local and international guest authors, and the Festival's events programme catering for audiences of all ages. National Book Council launches poster of the 2022 Malta Book Festival JAMES DEBONO IN a final blow to plans to construct a massive old people's home in Bir- gu's protected Tal-Hawli valley, the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal has confirmed a decision by the Planning Authority in 2019 to reject the development. The old people built on 5 storeys was to occupy a site area of circa 2770 square metres with a built footprint of approximately 1178 square metres and a gross floor ar- ea of 10,333 square meters. The original application dat- ing back to 2015 was presented by Donald Magro on behalf of St Paul's Residential Homes, a com- pany owned by Joseph Gaffarena The site comprises small dere- lict structures which have a total footprint of 50 sq.m surrounded by land partly covered by soil and vegetation including a number of mature trees. The tribunal confirmed that the development as proposed was in- compatible with the designation of the site as an area of scientific or ecological also scheduled for its High Landscape Value being adja- cent to the Military Glacis of Birgu. "The proposed development is not simply a rural area but one which is extremely sensitive due to its proximity to Wied Hawli and to the protection accorded to the site," the tribunal said in its decision. The tribunal also rejected the ar- gument that the site was already committed by existing develop- ment in the same area noting that the proposed development is sub- stantially larger than the structures found on the site. In their appeal the developers al- so cited the backing they had from the Birgu Local Council for their proposal. But this argument was dismissed as irrelevant to the desig- nation of the site which precludes its development. Tal-Hawli saved from ODZ old people's home