BookLab Fall 2020 Updates

Virtual workshops, new faces, and exciting projects are coming to BookLab this fall.

BookLab's space in Tawes is closed to the public for the duration of the semester. While their physical space is shuttered, BookLab will still be active this semester.

Virtual Drop-ins

The interactive workspace can arrange brief instructional sessions that would take the form of Zoom drop-ins during which use their home document camera to exhibit a small selection of interesting and unusual books (useful for any discussion of the book as material artifact), and give students a look at moveable type and some other items of interest. Please contact us at booklab@umd.edu if you would like to discuss details of such a session.

Upcoming Events

BookLab will remain an active contributor to the department’s intellectual life. This includes partnering with the Center on at least two events as part of its Antiracism Series. On Tuesday, December 1 (12:30pm) they will host the book artist and printer Tia Blassingame (Scripps College and Primrose Press), who will lead a conversation on “Antiracist Bookwork.” Then, for early spring, they will collaborate with colleagues at University of California Santa Clara to co-host a bicoastal mini-conference on African American Print Culture in the early US. More details about both of those events will be coming soon.

BookLab is excited to announce that their popular ZineClub is back, under founder Britt Starr’s stewardship. Its first virtual meeting will be on September 17, 7:30 pm.

New Faces

BookLab welcomes a new GA this semester: Ph.D. candidate Aaron Bartlett who works at the intersection of 19th century British poetry, cultural studies, and book history.