The Chicago Art Book Fair opens Friday at the Chicago Cultural Center, bringing independent presses, artists and printmakers to the Loop for three days of books, zines and workshops. Admission is free. The fair runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, Nov. 13 through 15, at 78 E. Washington St. All times below are Central.
The organizers’ program and exhibitor list include talks and hands-on sessions in the first-floor Learning Lab, by the Washington Street entrance. Publishers set up their tables in Preston Bradley Hall. Friday and Saturday also have evening talks at a separate venue on West Fulton Street.
Where to find the publishers
Preston Bradley Hall sits under the Tiffany glass dome in the building that opened as Chicago’s Central Library in 1897. Visitors who need a step-free entrance can use the street-level doors at Garland Court and Randolph Street, which the city lists as wheelchair accessible. The Learning Lab is on the Washington Street side, so allow time to move between rooms if you are catching a signing and a workshop close together. The exhibitors range from Chicago-based artists and design programs to presses from outside the city. Minneapolis arts organization Mizna, for example, publishes a print journal featuring Arab and Southwest Asian and North African literature and art. WesternXeditions plans to bring comics, zines and artist books, including work by Jessica Campbell, Lilli Carré and Edie Fake.
The booths also host signings. On Friday at 2 p.m., Jason Reblando and Cecil McDonald Jr. are both scheduled at booth 81. Reblando's This Is Captured Paper rearranges photographs made under U.S. colonial rule in the Philippines. McDonald's The Heat of the Cool comes out of his work with dancers and DJs. If you're coming for a particular book, check the exhibitor list and signing time before you go. Admission covers entry to the fair. Publishers sell their books at their tables.
Friday's talk and Saturday's workshops
Friday's Learning Lab program begins with a social hour at 2 p.m. The Little Palestine Project's Objects of Memory talk follows from 3 to 4 p.m. The project collects oral histories from Arab immigrants in Chicago's southwest suburbs, and its first bilingual zine includes excerpts from interviews. The fair lists zine sales after the talk, beginning at 4 p.m.
Saturday's risograph workshop runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Roots to Fruits and Chicago DJ Norman Hernandez will make a group zine about music and memory with participants. The organizers cap the workshop at 15 people and encourage reservations through the fair’s program. They ask participants to bring source material such as family photos or record sleeves. At 2 p.m., artist Lydia Cheshewalla leads a separate zine workshop in the same room, with reservations encouraged. Meanwhile, Carmen Neely is scheduled to sign at booth 64 and B. Ingrid Olson at booth 49, both at 2 p.m. Rebecca Shore follows at booth 78 at 3 p.m.
Sunday's Learning Lab sessions start with a leaf-printing workshop from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. From 2 to 5 p.m., Alma de Izote and collaborators will use risograph printing in a session about El Salvador. The organizers say the session is open to people of all ages and experience levels, with activities accessible to Spanish and English speakers. Find the reservation links under each session in the fair program.
Evening talks at LATITUDE
If you want more time with the people who make the books, LATITUDE's Open Book program runs from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It takes place after the fair closes at the nonprofit's space at 2003 W. Fulton St., Suite 211. The program is free and has a separate RSVP. As of Friday morning, LATITUDE listed the Friday session as sold out and still showed an RSVP for Saturday. Reblando and McDonald are on the program, along with artists and publishers working with textiles, moving images and experimental book forms. Check LATITUDE's registration page for the evening you want before heading to Fulton Street.
