Booklyn

Founded in 1999, Booklyn is an artist-run, nonprofit organization headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. The mission is to promote artist books as an art form and educational resource; to provide educational institutions and the public with programming involving contemporary artist books; and to assist artists in exhibiting, distributing, and publishing innovative bookwork.
Booklyn arranges classes, lectures, and workshops for educational institutions at all levels of instruction. Classes range from bookbinding workshops at after-school programs to lectures on book arts history and theory at universities. Booklyn is committed to training teachers, providing them with creative options for promoting literacy and integrating the arts into their curricula. It provides bookmaking workshops to educators, artists, and the public at our Booklyn studio and offers internships in book production and arts administration to university students and adult volunteers.
Booklyn representatives conduct hands-on presentations of contemporary artist books at libraries, museums, and universities throughout the world. By connecting bookmakers to interested institutions, Booklyn aids these institutions in developing their collections while helping artists secure the funding necessary to earn a living. It maintains an archive of books, images, and information about artists and presses to aid librarians and curators.

Booklyn assists artists and authors in publishing their own work by providing technical support, access to equipment and skilled labor, and a network of resources, talent, and knowledge. Booklyn also publishes under its own imprint and aids artists in seeking trade publication of their work.

Booklyn produces and curates exhibitions and performances at museums, libraries, universities, and other public sites. These exhibits explore issues such as aesthetics, linguistics, science, and politics through hands-on book displays, readings, multimedia components, and installation environments expanding the concept and context of bookwork.

Professional Services
Booklyn works hard to keep abreast of developments in the field of artist books, and we never stop thinking, looking, making, and learning about books. Sharing our knowledge with others is part of our mission. Booklyn offers consultation to institutions and organizations regarding collection and curriculum development, exhibition, and publication.

Community
Booklyn represents the work of 60 artists and serves over 100 institutions. We annually provide direct service to over 6000 audience members through our programming.

Booklyn connects the otherwise isolated dots forming a constellation of artists, authors, binders, printers, and illustrators. Participants include seasoned professionals, new artists entering the field, and nascent bookmakers only waiting for a bit of instruction or inspiration. Such consolidation encourages shared knowledge, collaboration, and the critical feedback necessary for growth.

Which Books?
Booklyn favors fresh, original writing and art and welcomes new media and innovative techniques. Content and form are inextricable, but content must be the driving force. We act on behalf of living artists and rarely stray from contemporary work.

Booklyn places the work of emerging artists on the same table as McArthur Genius Grant winners, and places $5 zines next to $15,000 unique books. By distributing, exhibiting, and publishing these works together, Booklyn presents marginalized voices in a context commonly reserved for more established artists.