'Blend' is the word at this year's celebration of zines, illustrations and bookbinding...
As wayward children we were drilled never to judge a book by its cover. But the fact remains that art and fiction goes together like eggs and bacon - imagine Roald Dahl without Quentin Blake’s squiggly renderings of larger-than-life characters, or The Great Gatsby without a looming pair of eyes on the front. A beautiful book will always beat a PDF file.
The biannual Notts Book Arts Festival was founded three years ago by Hilke Kurzke and Jenny Stevenson, its mission being to celebrate the discipline of book art. ‘And just what is book art?’, we hear you ask, impatiently. Well, enthusiastic reader, it’s a stream within contemporary art that fuses innovative forms of bookbinding with visual art and creative writing.
The Book Arts Festival, which combines a book art exhibition with a fun suite of inclusive workshops, is back for a library tour this year, kicking off in Beeston on the 29th of August, before visiting the Central Library in Nottingham in October, Wollaton library at the end of the year, and Arnold library in January 2025. So, plenty of opportunities to dip your toes into the world of book art.
And if you’re already in the world of book art you have until the 14th of July to submit your creations to potentially become part of the exhibition here. The word ‘BLEND’ is the theme this time, and visitors can look forward to books that explore the topic of blending from different angles - whether that means the blending of techniques, the author’s favourite blend of fruit or coffee, or even the experience of how abstract sounds blend to form language.
There will, we’re promised, be a ton to discover in the exhibition for all ages and abilities - zines, postcards, illustrations, plus ‘easy folded books for the whole family to make and engage with, journal-making for teenagers, and poetry and art workshops for adults.’ You might even be allowed at long last to judge a book, even just a little bit, by its cover.
Notts Book Arts Festival kicks off at Beeston Library on the 29th of August. You can find out more on the website here or by following @nottsbookarts on Instagram.
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