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Book Arts |
The Artist’s Book Yearbook is a resource for artists, collectors, librarians, academics, students, curators, publishers, researchers and anyone interested in artists’ books!
The next edition of the ABYB is 2026 – 2027, published in Spring 2026, edited by Sarah Bodman. Published by Impact Press at The Centre for Print Research, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
There are essays on contemporary book arts interviews, celebrations and investigations of artists’ practices. In a special celebration of 40 years of collaborative practice by Uta Schneider and Ulrike Stoltz ‹usus›, we publish two essays reflecting on their work as artists utilising books, letterpress, sound and installation.
Artists have listed 300+ recent book works. You will also find information on bookshops, print studios, binderies, artist’s book fairs, supplier services, galleries, institutions, libraries and collections, reference books, journal, societies, organisations, workshops and courses etc.
Please pre-order your copy with:
UK postage here.
International postage here. Thank you.
Image: Detail from Ohne Schwarz> (Without Black>), Uta Schneider and Ulrike Stoltz ‹usus›, 1987, photograph: ‹usus›.
Where Artists and Texts Meet is a new Liverpool Book Art exhibition at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU)’s library, running from February to March 2026. It showcases art inspired by literature, new bindings, and collaborations between artists and writers. The event, a collaboration with LJMU, also features an associated “Insights Day” in mid-February with workshops and talks, celebrating books and reading.
Dinner and a Rose, an artist’s book with images by Sarah Bodman and text by Nancy Campbell is included in the exhibition.
A homage to the novel The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. The work originated in a commission to investigate how readers respond to visual aspects of poetry for Poetry Beyond Text: Vision, Text, Cognition, University of Dundee’s AHRC-funded research project. This new edition was created in 2021 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the last Ripley novel’s publication.
Where Artists and Texts Meet, curated by Liverpool Book Art, Mount Pleasant Campus Library, Liverpool John Moores University, UK. 06/02/26 – 29/03/26.
Image: Dinner and a Rose, Sarah Bodman and Nancy Campbell.
World Book Night 2026 – The Mountains Are Calling… WBN United Artists invite you to read and respond to a text or book about mountains.
WBN is organised by Sarah Bodman and Linda Parr with input from Nancy Campbell. We invite you to make a 2D or 3D work (which must fold flat to fit into an A5 envelope for mailing) inspired by mountains to send for an exhibition and mail art swap. You can also nominate a book or text about mountains to share in our collaborative bibliography. Deadline 3rd March 2026. Download the full brief here.
Find out more about our past World Book Nights in the video ‘What We Do in the Shadows: bringing book arts into World Book Night’ here.
Image: Detail from a photo by Eberhard Grossgasteiger.
Coming soon in April 2026 – The first of two issues publishing presentations from abbe 2025 – a two-day conference held at Artspace Mackay, Queensland, Australia, bringing into focus the innovative world of artists book practice in the region. Practicing artists, postgraduate students and professionals in the field presented papers examining two distinct themes – ‘Contemporary Artists Book Practice’ and ‘Mapping Australia’s Artists Book Histories: A Group Effort’.
In a first for the conference, abbe – organised by Tim Mosely, Caren Florance, Marian Crawford and Robyn Wood, formed two compelling partnerships in their ambition to advance and celebrate Australian artists’ books practice, joining forces with Artspace Mackay with their nationally renowned Libris Awards, and The Blue Notebook: Journal for Artists’ Books.
Papers presented will be published over Volume 20 and 21 of The Blue Notebook in Spring and Autumn 2026.
Christine (Cheng) Dong is designing the publication for these two special editions.
Cover and artist’s pages for the first issue are by Chris Wong.
Download and browse all back issues here.
Image: Detail from Frozen Resilience, a bookwork by Chris Wong, @chris.wonghf.
Save the date for Bristol Artist’s Book Event at UWE Bristol Fine Art studios at Spike Island, Fri 26 and Sat 27 June 2026.
Bristol Artist’s Book Event (BABE) is a biennial showcase of artists’ books activity with 100+ artists and small presses exhibiting their works to the public for sale. Organised by Sarah Bodman (UWE) and Tom Sowden (Boomsatsuma).
Our focus for 2026 is BABE Looking East. Curators and artists from Japan will showcase works as part of the 2-day event. We hope you can come along! Free event, open to all.
Image: Bladr at BABE 2022. Photo: Niamh Fahy.
This touring exhibition is part of the ongoing al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Coalition projects. The online Inventory gallery was launched to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the bombing of al-Mutanabbi Street on 5th March 2012, for which project partners around the world held commemorative readings and events. The gallery pages show images and information for each of the 260 books completed for the project.
Over March 2026 we will be showing a selection of works from Shadow and Light at Bower Ashton Library. Beau Beausoleil – Founder – Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here: Shadow and Light originates from the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here project, which is an artistic response to an attack on al-Mutanabbi Street (the street of the booksellers) in Baghdad on March 5th 2007. In late 2018 we began this photography project, Shadow and Light, as a direct response to the assassination of over 400 Iraqi academics between the years 2003-2013. Our project archive contains letterpress broadsides, artists’ books, and prints. We also have a bookmark project, based in the UK. The project contains the work of approximately 600 poets, writers, and artists from over 20 countries.
You can view a selection of images from Shadow and Light, in an online exhibit featured on UC Santa Barbara Library’s website.
Exhibitions held since the launch of the tour include:
The Westminster Reference Library, Westminster, UK; The Powell Library Rotunda, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA; Salt & Cedar Letterpress Studio, Detroit, Michigan, USA; The Cambridge Arts Council, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; The Santa Fe University of Art and Design, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA; The John Rylands Library, Manchester, UK; The San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, California, USA; Gallery Route One, Point Reyes, California USA; the Center for Book Arts, New York in association with Alwan for the Arts, Columbia University Libraries Butler Library, International Print Center New, Poets House, New York, USA; Literary & Philosophical Society Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK; Collins Memorial Library, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington, USA; Curry College, Milton, Massachusetts, USA; American University in Cairo, Egypt; Arab – British Centre, London, UK; The Mosaic Rooms, London, UK; Kate Chappell ’83 Center for Book Arts at the University Of Southern Maine, USA; The Hague Public Library, The Netherlands; Queen Elizabeth II Library, Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada; Jaffe Center for Books Arts, Florida Atlantic University, USA; Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County, Rochester, New York, USA; Goddard College, Vermont, USA; Arab American National Museum, Dearborn/Detroit, Michigan, USA; Idaho Center for the Book in partnership with The Arts and Humanities Institute at Boise State University, USA; George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA; Herron School of Art and Design, The Herron Art Library of IUPUI University library, USA; Keats House and the Iraqi Cultural Centre, London; the Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, USA; Idaho Center for the Book in partnership with The Arts and Humanities Institute at Boise State University; Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here DC 2016 a partnership between George Mason University’s School of Art and George Mason University Libraries, Split This Rock, Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, McLean Project for the Arts, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at The George Washington University, Busboys and Poets, Georgetown University, Cultural DC, Smithsonian Libraries, Brentwood Arts Exchange, Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Northern Virginia Community College, George Mason University Student Media and Fourth Estate Newspaper; Rosenberg Library at the City College of San Francisco, USA; Konstlitografiska museet, Helliden, Sweden; Hatcher Library, University of Michigan, USA; UC Santa Barbara Library, California, USA.
Image: Detail from Aalim Abdul Hameed (#93)Aalim Abdul Hameed: PhD in preventive medicine, specialist in depleted uranium effects in Basra, Dean of the College of Medicine, al- Mustansiriya University. Photograph: Kristin Scheel. You can find out more about the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here project on the LAAF Festival website.
