What is a book? What can books DO? Where can books take us?
And, once we make a book, how does it go out into the world?
# (Insert Awesome Title Here) And Other Fantastic Stories is a book conceived, written, illustrated, designed and published by 13 artists in grades 6 to 8 during an 8 week workshop at Story Planet.
Led by Shannon Gerard and Joanna Labriola, the workshop questioned the nature and scope of publication. We focused on three discussions. First, how and where we encounter books influences the way we read them. Second, how artists use the form of the book to produce unconventional content or structures. Third, how publication is uniquely situated to give us political agency.
In addition to publishing a book, workshop participants learned to screenprint, made buttons, created small zines, produced tshirts, and launched everything at a closing party with performances and readings.