This week marks the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the storm that devastated the historic city of New Orleans and surrounding areas of the Gulf Coast. In the midst of many retrospective books, articles, and opinion pieces that are appearing in news media around the world, an elegant book of essays and photographs is being released, which captures some of the most moving accounts of the storm’s aftermath we’ve seen so far. We had the good fortune of producing the book, and it reminded us of what a powerful role books can play in preserving legacy and marking important moments in history.

Immediately following the hurricane, the State of Qatar created a fund of $100 million to support relief efforts to affected organizations in the areas of housing, health care, and education. Ten years later, the positive effects of the fund are evident in many ways. Scholarship recipients have been put through school and are flourishing in new jobs; hospitals and health care facilities have been rebuilt; housing projects are developing and thriving. A firm believer in the power of books, the Ambassador of the State of Qatar in the United States engaged Page Two to write, design, photograph, and produce Qatar Katrina Fund: 10 Years After the Storm, a book that would describe these relief efforts and tell the amazing stories of rebuilding and renewal.

True to the Ambassador’s vision, the book does what no other medium ever could: it provides a detailed and nuanced account of the impact of the fund, telling the stories of many of the people involved in the rebuilding efforts, offering thoughtful, in-depth portraits of both the grantors and the grantees, with accompanying photographs that give us an immediate sense of both people and place. This beautiful book serves as a lasting tribute to everyone involved, preserving the legacy of the fund and the rebuilding efforts for years to come.

 Many of our clients publish for the sake of posterity, to preserve important memories or to chronicle important events. At Page Two, we honour and proudly support those efforts.