ESTRI was a collaboration between the MCOI and Kotba Calleja that was launched and presented as a temporary exhibition during the Malta Book Festival 2025. The project explored the relationship between poetry, drawing, and creative process, bringing together 18 illustrators and artists who responded visually to works by contemporary Maltese poets through a series of hand-crafted sketchbooks. The participating artists used the hand-made sketchbooks by Kotba Calleja as spaces for experimentation, process, and visual interpretation.

The project resulted in the publication of ESTRI, a book featuring the literary pieces and selected pages from the sketchbooks on display. As the first collaboration between the MCOI and Kotba Calleja, the project connected illustrators and poets while highlighting illustration as a personal creative practice beyond just commercial work.

Participating Authors in ESTRI: Annalise Ebejer, Caldon Mercieca, Clare Azzopardi, Claudia Gauci, Giulia Privitelli, Jake Buttigieg, Kenneth Scicluna, Leanne Ellul, Luke J. Buhagiar, Maria Grech Ganado and Nicole Zammit to take part.

Participating Artists in ESTRI: Adrian Gauci, Alexine Sammut, Amy Bonnici, Celia Borg Cardona, Daniela Attard, Debbie Caruana Dingli, Fran Balzan, Fabrizio Ellul, Jade Zammit, Kyle Xuereb Cunningham, Marietta Mifsud, Matt Stroud, Matthew Robert Shirfield, Matthew Schembri, Miriam Galea, Noura Abdelhafidh, Stephen Micallef and Svetlana Golovacheva.