The 4th Sheffield International Artist’s Book Prize, organised by and held at the city’s Bank Street Arts, has been launched today at the Leeds International Book Fair. Free to enter, the prize is open to makers of artists’ books in any format and from anywhere in the world. At least four cash prizes totalling £2,000 will be awarded, and all submitted works will be shown in an exhibition at Bank Street Arts during the Off the Shelf literary festival this autumn.
The Prize was established in 2008 – with the aim to develop the profile of artists’ books and increase their audience – and attracted over fifty entries in its inaugural year. Since then the project has grown to become a biennial exhibition with an international reach, in 2011 attracting 180 entries from 22 countries. Having secured funding from Arts Council England and sponsorship from Open College of the Arts, the organisers hope the 2013 edition will be their biggest yet.
Visitors to the two-month show which opens in October will vote for the Exhibition Prize winner and at least three further prizes will be awarded by the jury, which comprises: Alison Gibbons, Art, Design and Humanities Faculty Member, De Montfort University; Elizabeth James, Senior Librarian at the V&A’s National Art Library; Christian Lloyd, Curriculum Leader for Visual Communications, Open College of the Arts; and Karen Sherwood, Director of Cupola Gallery, Sheffield.
All prizewinners will be offered funding for a solo exhibition to take place in Sheffield in 2014.
The second edition of Leeds International Book Fair, with over fifty exhibitors including New Arcadian Press; The University of the West of England’s Letterpress Etiquette Network; Sheffield Hallam University’s guerrilla writing group; and Cologne-based publishing project TBOOKS, continues until 5pm tomorrow (Saturday 9 March) in Parkinson Court, University of Leeds.
artistsbookprize.co.uk
facebook.com/SheffieldInternationalArtistsBookPrize
