Bristol Artist’s Book Event – BABE
at UWE Bower Ashton, Bristol, UK
Saturday 29th – Sunday 30th June 2024
11am – 5pm each day
BABE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS*

Bristol Artist’s Book Event at Bower Ashton will take place over the weekend of 29th and 30th June 2024, 11am – 5pm each day. Free event. All welcome.

The first Bristol Artist’s Book Event (BABE) was organised by Sarah Bodman and Tom Sowden in collaboration with Peter Begen, Julian Warren and Snoozie Claiden at Arnolfini in 2007. It has since grown into an international event showcasing artists’ books to the public over a weekend every two years. In 2022 BABE moved to our Bower Ashton campus to create space for a larger event with talks, displays, performances and workshops alongside 100 exhibitor stands. Since its first outing, BABE has established a great reputation as a relaxed and friendly event to meet and talk to book artists about their work and buy works of art.

We have 100+ exhibitors coming from all over the UK and Ireland, Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, Sweden and the USA and books arriving from Australia, Poland and the USA.

Free onsite parking, no need to book or pay for a ticket, just turn up and park. Cycle racks on site. Buses and all other travel information can be downloaded here.

BABE takes place over A, B, C and D blocks at UWE’s Bower Ashton campus, you can download a map of the campus here, room guides are available at the event or download from the link below.

AMBruno Tsz-ki Cheung Book Works Christine McCauley David Armes
Participants in BABE 2024 include:

ABC at UWE; Alexandra Czinczel | The Chinchilla ; Ambeck Design + Ensixteen Editions; AMBruno; Amy Sterly; Andrew Morrison Books; Angie Butler AB Press; Art Byte Critique; Batool Showghi; Beneficial Shock!; Best Books by Bernard & Anwyl; Blueway Art Studio – Brigid’s Book; Bodkin Beak (Sally Light); Book Arts at UWE | Impact Press; The Bookband; bookRoom (feat. Silvergrass Press); Book Works; Caren Florance; Carl Middleton; Caroline Penn; Carolyn Trant | parvenu press; Cathey Webb; Cheung Tsz-ki; The Chevington Press; Chisato Tamabayashi; Christine McCauley; Chrystal Cherniwchan; Ciarrai Samson; Clare Rogers | Wild Bird of the Ink; Corinne Welch; Dangerous Print Club; David Armes (Red Plate Press); David Howes; Design for Today; EAK Press; Eccentric Horace; Egidija Čiricaitė; Erin K. Schmidt; Eva Hejdström; Fi Harris; Field Study International; Fran Copeman; From Me To You Publications; Gema Sainz; Gen Harrison (typochondriacs); Gi Press (Georgia Spanos); Good Studio & Bridgette Ashton; Graham Moss | Incline Press; Guy Bigland; Heather Green; Heather Prescott; HG Makes; Isobel Gillan; Jane Cradock-Watson; Jane Hyslop; Janet Allsebrook; Jeff Rathermel; Jo Barnfield aka House of jO; Jo Reed Turner; Julie Johnstone | Essence Press; Kate Bernstein; La Galerie Émergence; Lee Shearman | Micro Library Books; Left Cultures; The Lemonade Press; Lihie Talmor; Linda Parr; Linda Toigo; Liver & Lights; London Centre for Book Arts; Lucy Austin; Luisa Mascaró; Lyndon Watkinson; MAAP Books – MA Illustration Authorial Practice (Falmouth University); MakingSpace; Marches Book Arts Group; Maria White; Mark Beechill / Less Than 500 Press; Mark Pawson; Martyna Sabadasz; Mavina Baker; Mel Brown; Mick McGraw; Mike Clements; Nancy Campbell; New North Press; Nick Moore; Noëlle Griffiths; ottoGraphic; Paul Cooke (Dubious Books); Pauline Lamont-Fisher; Peter Chasseaud (Altazimuth Press & Tom Paine Press); Philippa Wood & Tamar MacLellan; Pittville Press; Pylon Press; Radoslaw Nowakowski; Rae Holden; reassemble; Rebecca Weeks Art; Road Books; Roelof Bakker | Negative Press; Rosemary Everett; Royal College of Art; Ruth Martin; Scherry Shi; Salt + Shaw; Sayo Senoo; Serena Smith; Sioban Piercy; Soma Gallery; Spike Print Studio; Stroud Artists Books; Sue McLaren; Susie Wilson; Tess Mounsey; Textual Porosity: Astra Papachristodoulou, Briony Hughes, Caroline Harris; Timglaset; Timothy Shore; UWE Illustration BA Hons; The Yew Tree Press, Aldsworth; Zelda Velika.

Download the BABE Room Guide to see where exhibitors are here.

From Me To You Publications London Centre for Book Arts Judy Kravis - Road Books New North Press Martyna Sabadasz
A free programme of talks and workshops accompanies BABE:

Talks in Room 1D005 (first floor D block, right hand side)
Hosted by Emma Gregory. Publishers and artists who work with books discuss aspects of their practice, give readings and performances. Each talk or performance is 20 minutes. All welcome, free talks, no booking needed, just turn up. Download the programme of Talks and Readings in 1D005 here.

Talks in the Special Collections Corner (library, first floor B block)
Talks take place in the corner of the library devoted to artists’ books. They are purposely informal and low-tech. The artist or publisher shows their work to a small group, in this intimate space, providing their audience with an opportunity for close-up viewing and to hear about aspects of their book art practice. A unique experience for all involved. Hosted by Bower Ashton Library staff. Each talk lasts 15 minutes. All welcome, free talks, no booking needed, just turn up. Download the Collections Corner Talks programme here.

Book signing, Dinner and A Rose, Nancy Campbell on Impact Press stand room OC3, Saturday 29th 13:00.

The Lemonade Press will be printing in Lithography, Room OC15 throughout the weekend.

All our free public workshops and artist surgeries with Book Works are now fully booked.

ottoGraphic Astra Papachristodoulou - Textual Porosity Philippa Wood & Tamar MacLellan Sayo Senoo Sioban Piercy
*BABE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS
The World Book Night exhibition In Praise of Birds will be on display in the library. Many thanks to Ben Goodman for designing and printing our beautiful poster for BABE 2024 – the quote is a twist on Emily Dickinson coined by Marian Kilpatrick.

More on site exhibitions include: ABC at UWE, Books from the Burton, Jeff Rathermel and Joe Devlin in the library. The library is on the first floor of B block. The Nordic Letterpress Network (Imi Maufe, Camilla Gunnar, Lina Nordenström, Edward Johannson, Carl Middleton & Angie Butler) will be showing new works in the Reel Cases across B and C block.

Bristol Artist’s Book Event (BABE) Sat 29 and Sun 30 June 2024, 11am – 5pm each day, free event all welcome.

BABE 2024 is organised by Sarah Bodman, Angie Butler and Tom Sowden. With thanks to Morwenna Peters, Shaun Oaten and staff at Bower Ashton Library for hosting the Collections Corner Talks, Emma Gregory for hosting the Talks and Readings in D block, Marian Kilpatrick and Deanna Poolman at Bower Ashton, Sam Bryan for workshops assistance and the BABE-arians: Aurelie, Christine, JD, Katie, Kei Wing, Thistle.

Associated event: B for Book, an exhibition at Frankenstein Press, Bristol. Friday 28th June – Friday 19th July 2024. See the exhibition page for more details.

UWE Bristol, City Campus at Bower Ashton, Kennel Lodge Road, Bristol BS3 2JT.