The idea of a covers album is pretty well established in music, but less so in literature. Badly done it's too easy to end up making apologies for plagiarism. Normally, to cover literature you need to rearrange into the voice of a nasty minor character or take a lifetime to churn out a translation. Artists tend to be less daunted by this challenge, with the site Recovering the Classics especially literal in its efforts. Local art purveyors the Affectors have taken up the challenge, filling the Comber St Gallery with book-themed illustrations at the Art of Storytelling.

They've eschewed the literal cover, inviting 25 local artists instead to illustrate some classics. The results of these artistic pairings — for sale on the night — include Wayne Nichols' rendition of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Chris Nixon's On the Road and Australian comics-industry stalwart Jason Paulos's Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

Augmented by live music at opening night, the Art of Storytelling will include Green Fairy concoctions and Little Creatures served throughout the night.

Image: Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jason Paulos.