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events

Contemporary Small Press Fair at Uni Westminster

On Friday 20th Feb bookleteer will be taking part in the Contemporary Small Press Fair at the University of Westminster (6-9pm). We’ll be bringing along hundreds of books which have been made and shared with bookleteer and which have been printed using our unique short run printing service. Some of these will be examples of the publications distributed via the Periodical, so if you’d like to acquire some of your favourites, come along.

Friday 20th February 2015, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London W1

The Contemporary Small Press: A Symposium — 10:00-17:00, Book Fair and readings — 18:00-21:00

The symposium is free to all but booking is essential

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education events

Teachers CPD Workshop at De La Warr Pavilion

Last week I gave a presentation and demonstration of bookleteering for a teachers’ CPD (continuous professional development) workshop run by Ashley McCormick at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea. The event was part of the programme associated with the current exhibition, Ladybird by Design, a celebration of 100 year’s of publishing the eponymous books. During the session we discussed lots of ideas for creatively engaging children and other learners through making books themselves, echoing the deliberate design constraints used to create hundreds of classic Ladybird titles within the constraints of bookleteer. The Ladybird formula of short, illustrated books retelling classic stories and tales, explaining history and science, exploring life at home, work and out shopping or introducing industries and technology retain a strong nostalgic hold on those generations who grew up on them. As a cultural and design icon in their own right they offer a template upon which we can continue to explore the world in our own ways – bookleteer offers a modern day alternative for anyone inspired to create their own library of books exploring the world around us.

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events

LibraryPress Launch Event

Last night we took part in the launch of the LibraryPress project in Soho’s Society Club, celebrating this year’s programme of workshops across the seven partner services (Brent, Camden, Harrow, Hounslow, Islington, Lewisham and Merton).

The books which have been produced and distributed (via the Periodical) as part of the Pop Up Publishing workshops and Masterclass which Proboscis led for LibraryPress in 2014 were on display and we’re looking forward to making more in the coming months.
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events news

Bookleteer Masterclass for Librarypress


Yesterday I ran a Bookleteer Masterclass for Library professionals from the boroughs of Lewisham, Brent, Hounslow, Camden, Islington, Merton and Harrow at the Deptford Lounge. The event was part of our collaboration with the Librarypress project and was designed to introduce library staff to bookleteer and how they might use it in their own projects and activities with library users and local groups. We had a fantastic turnout with very inquisitive and engaged participants – it was wonderful to see them all getting straight down to making books and StoryCubes with text and images they had brought along with them specifically for the day. We will be selecting a series of books made by the participants for the Periodical over the coming months, as inspiring examples of what can be done with bookleteer to engage readers and local groups with library projects and services.

I’d like to encourage other library authorities who are also interested in using bookleteer as part of their services to get in touch : we are more than happy to offer workshops and provide consultancy on how bookleteer can used by the public and integrated within existing projects and services.

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events news

Soho Memoirs : 3 new books

Soho_Memoirs

I’ve designed 3 new books for The Museum of Soho in time for their Museums at Night event, A Pot To Wishin’, at the House of St Barnabas in Soho.
Printed copies of one of the books will be available at the event (tickets here).

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events news pitch up & publish

Islington & Wembley Pop Up Publishing Workshops

More workshops are being held next week in Islington & Wembley Libraries as part of the Librarypress project. Below is the presentation I’ll be using to illustrate my talk on bookleteer to participants and explore the kinds of things they can do with it.

Pop Up Publishing with bookleteer from Giles Lane
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events news pitch up & publish

Pop Up Publishing with Librarypress


This month I am running 6 pop up publishing sessions across three libraries in London : Hounslow Library; Islington Central Library (First Steps Learning Centre) and Wembley Library. All the sessions are free and last for about 3 hours in the evening. The sessions are part of the Librarypress project which aims to get more people publishing.

The aim is to introduce bookleteer.com as a simple way to create and share publications that can be both physical (paper) and digital (readable online). Everyone is welcome, no technical/computer experience required or previous publishing experience. Bring stories, pictures, ideas and we’ll help you turn them into simple publications you can make and share.

We are hoping that some gems will emerge over the sessions – we have arranged with Librarypress to select up to 12 books by participants for inclusion in the Periodical, to be printed professionally and posted out to subscribers.

The sessions are :

    Hounslow Library : Tuesday 6th & Thursday 8th May 5-8pm
    Islington Central Library : Monday 19th & Thursday 22nd May 4.30-7.45pm
    Wembley Library : Tuesday 20th & Friday 23rd May 5-7.45pm

To book a place at one of these sessions, email Librarypress : news@librarypress.org.uk

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events

The Haunter Field Trip

The other week we fled London for serene, sunny Dorchester, joining Tim Wright and Joe Flintham, as well as a handful of intrepid walkers eager to try out The Haunter box they have developed.

Enamoured with the surroundings and bewitched by the box, we followed the routes Tim had set for the day. Walking, talking, and reciting Hardy’s poems from the handy booklet Giles had created, we were struck by how much the box can change the way you engage with the landscape, and the pace and manner in which you travel through it. There’s a grand charm to bearing its burden – carrying the physical weight, as if a stone ferried from the base of a hill to a cairn, and the weight of its words, surrendering to how Hardy saw the world in his mournful state.

The box is just a prototype at the moment, but Tim and Joe are planning to add several more features and capabilities. I can’t wait to clasp it tight once more and be led through the land. In the meantime, we’re thinking of what we will create from the experience and the subsequent discussions, to form part of our City As Material series.

Tim has written an account, and uploaded a host of videos and sounds recorded from the day on his site, which should enlighten and entertain in equal measure. Here’s a teaser…

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events news

City as Material x The Haunter – Tuesday 19th June

For our next City As Material venture, we will be working with Tim Wright on his new digital public art project The Haunter, inspired by Thomas Hardy’s ‘Poems of 1912/13′, enacted 100 years after Hardy wrote his famous sequence of verses mourning the death of his first wife, Emma.

Participants will embark on walks along a specific route with a crafted wooden box, embedded with smart technology, ‘haunted’ by the legacy of Hardy’s poems. Able to speak, play recordings of poems, conversations and music, capture sounds and react dynamically using geolocation, the box will enhance and document their experiences.

On Tuesday 19th June we’ll be joining Tim and box developer Joe Flintham (amongst others) in Dorchester to try it out in the field – a day of ‘recording, beta testing, walking and talking’ – forming a book (or series of books) on what happened, ideas discussed, and creative responses to the walk.

For a detailed description of the day, check here – it would be great if you could join us.

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events news

‘We Are All Food Critics’ – Bookleteer @ Soho Food Feast

Bookleteer will be at this year’s Soho Food Feast on Saturday 26th May – a one-day event of demonstrations, tastings and cooking contests, boasting many of London’s most renowned chefs and restauranteurs, in aid of Soho Parish Primary School.

We’ll be encouraging children from the school to sample dishes and become food critics for the day, capturing their responses with a specially designed bookleteer notebook illustrated by Mandy and introduced by Fay Maschler, restaurant critic for the Evening Standard. We’re also going to compile a book of the best reviews which will be sold to raise money for the school.

The line-up is beyond tantalising, and needless to say, it’s all for a good cause. Nom nom nom!

Take a peek at the notebook below.