Firstly we're making an illustrated book of short and extremely short stories about animals. Mike and I are writing the pieces and the very talented Ms Corlett is illustrating them. Take a peek at some of her work here and read a story that'll be featured in the book here. Hopefully it will be out in April.
Secondly, we'll be at Winchester School of Art's New Art of Making Books conference on Wednesday 20th March. The title is a reference to Mexican writer Ulises Carrión's 1975 text of the same name wherein he muses and riffs around ideas of what a book is, what a text is and how to make new an old art.
An extract is below and the full text can be found here:
A book may be the accidental container of a text, the structure of which is irrelevant to the book: these are the books of bookshops and libraries.
A book can also exist as an autonomous and self-sufficient form, including perhaps a text that emphasizes that form, a text that is an organic part of that form: here begins the new art of making books.
In the old art the writer judges himself as being not responsible for the real book. He writes the text.
The rest is done by the servants, the artisans, the workers, the others.
In the new art writing a text is only the first link in the chain going from the writer to the reader. In the new art the writer assumes the responsibility for the whole process.
In the old art the writer writes texts.
In the new art the writer makes books.
To make a book is to actualize its ideal space-time sequence by means of the creation of a parallel sequence of signs, be it linguistic or other.
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| Ulises Carrión |
Finally, we'll be at DIY Cultures, a zine and artists' book fair at Rich Mix in London on Sunday 7 April - but more on that nearer the time!
