Experimental Literature & Artists' Books

There will be an exhibition of Jack Kerouac's original manuscript for "On the Road", at Columbia College in Chicago this fall. (Hopefully, this one will allow photographs.)

In conjunction with that, there will be another exhibition that “highlights the ongoing exploration of writers/artists in the area of experimental literature vis-a-vis artists’ books”.

Rather than focusing specifically on the Beat culture and literature, the curators have chosen to allow contributors to elucidate and interpret the terms "experimental literature" and "artists' books" for themselves. Essays by Alastair Johnston, Susan Vanderborg, Tate Shaw and Chris Burnett will be included.

To celebrate the opening of the exhibit and special issue of the Journal of Artists’ Books on “Intersections of Experimental Literature and Artists’ Books,” there will be readings by poets based in the greater Chicago area and whose works exemplify contemporary experimental poetic practice in the tradition fostered by the small press and artists’ books.

The catalog for Experimental Literature and the Intersection with Artists’ Books will be produced as the Journal of Artists’ Books #24.