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The Hastings Book Festival book fair is this Saturday, 14 September at the OB

Make haste to Hastings Book Fair

The Hastings Book Fair is happening this Saturday, 14 September, at the Observer Building, 11am to 4pm. It’s a great opportunity to meet creative people from Hastings and further afield. Erica Smith shares her top tip for a table stall to look out for.

The Hastings Book Fair promises workshops, opportunities to meet local and nationally acclaimed authors, entertainment for children and over 30 stallholders to visit including:
Ian Dowding, creator of the world famous banoffi pie;
Ingela Karlsson, who will be coming all the way from Sweden to showcase her children’s fantasy book Boreal, and
Moth Light Press, who will be revealing the cover design of POET TOWN: The Poets & Poetry of Hastings & Thereabouts.

Patricia at last year’s book fair.

Featured book stall:
Artery Editions

The poet Patricia Hope Scanlan will be participating in the festival for the second time this year. Patricia runs a poetry press called Artery Editions which has published several high-end publications, often combining the work of poets and writers with those of visual artists.

This year she has new works hot off the press, including PENTE, a book of woe by John Wieners and a reprint of Strictly Illegal – a book combining poetry by John Wieners with art by Gilbert & George, originally published in 2011. Patricia has also written and drawn a response to Yoko Ono’s recent show at Tate Modern which takes the form of a pad of twelve postcards. It is important to Patricia to create high quality artistic editions, but also to make sure that there are affordable and engaging publications that will appeal to the pockets and eyes of a wide audience.

“A tiny love song to Hastings when no one was looking.”

Perhaps most interesting of all is a facsimile edition of a small chapbook of poems and drawings that are a praise song to Hastings – Hasting Hastings.

Patricia explains: “Back in 1990, the artist Hercules Fisherman and I had been working day and night on our arts magazine Lovely Jobly. It was early autumn, and as a treat, we took ourselves to Hastings, which was a new discovery for us. The proviso we set ourselves was that we had to make a little artbook as a testament of the day. Back then, Hastings needed more than sunshine to lift its spirits – it felt so neglected by state and country, but what the little book Hasting Hastings evoked was the kindness and love evident between people here, even though times were very hard.

“The book is a tiny love song to Hastings when no one was looking. It was only printed in an edition of 50 copies, so I thought it timely to reprint it, now having come to live in Hastings.”

Patricia will have some facsimile proofs of Hasting Hastings on her stall – you are welcome to find her, and order an advance copy of the new edition when it comes back from the printers later this month. The book is interesting because its production values are so different to that of a 21st century artbook. It was created when desktop publishing was still a novelty, and Patricia used this new technology to generate concrete poetry. You can see the pixelated steps in the curves of the letterforms which reflect the early generation ink jet printer that was used. It is amazing to look back at this historical work and marvel at how both technology and our town have changed in the last 35 years.

You can find out more about Patricia Hope Scanlan and her publications on the Artery Editions website.

The Hastings Book Fair will open with a special performance on the stage at 11.00. For children there will be a book-themed trail around the fair as well as a book corner and the Observer Building cafe and bar will be open all day for hot and cold drinks, snacks, cakes and meals. Entry is free, so please come along and join us for what promises to be a brilliant day!

The Hastings Book Fair runs from 11am to 4pm at the Hastings Observer Building, 53 Cambridge Road, TN34 1DT. You can find more about the book fair and the other festival events by visiting the Hastings Book Festival website.

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Posted 17:10 Wednesday, Sep 11, 2024 In: Literature

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