Not a Straight Line is comprised of ten linked Coptic bound books with one line of the text in each of the books. To read the book the viewer must find their way along the linked books that turn this way and that way much as a meandering street would. This book was made for the Al-Mutanabbi Street Artists’ Book Project. The project aims to “re-assemble” some of the “inventory” of the reading material that was lost in the car bombing of Al-Mutanabbi Street. One complete set of the books from this project will be donated to the Iraq National Library in Baghdad, the other two sets will be exhibited throughout the world.

Emily Martin has been making movable and/or sculptural artists books since the late 1970’s. Her books are narrative sometimes autobiographical and make use of format as a metaphor for content. Emily Martin lives in Iowa City, Iowa, USA where she has her studio and also teaches at the University of Iowa Center for the Book. Her work is in public and private collections throughout the United States and internationally.