Over the course of four days, Printed Matter’s NY Art Book Fair offers dozens of opportunities for engagement, with conversations, workshops, performances, and other artist-led programs.
Programs also include an Opening Night celebration, the Reading Room, exhibitor awards, and curated exhibitor projects.
This long-running program provides space for artists, writers, designers, and publishers to highlight new releases at NYABF and fosters dialogue around important themes in artists’ book publishing. Held on the third floor of MoMA PS1, NYABF 2025 participants include Matthew Shen Goodman, Meg Onli, and Drew Sawyer, among others. The NYABF 2025 Classroom is organized in collaboration with Emmy Catedral, Director of Bookstore at CARA.
The Stage
The courtyard of the Fair will feature a lineup of music, poetry, and performance organized in collaboration with Lydo Le of X-TRA.SERVICES. Founded in 2017 by Lydo, X-TRA.SERVICES is a label that curates a subaquatic space for extraterrestrial sound. The Stage at NYABF 2025 will feature ISAbella, Joy Guidry, Laurel Halo, and 8ULENTINA + NANA XOXO + ROHANA among others.
Courtyard Projects
The 2025 NY Art Book Fair Courtyard Projects feature organizations and collectives who provide a myriad of material and informational resources, and services to arts, publishing, and activist communities throughout New York City. Each of these organizations rely on continued engagement from the audiences they serve in order to sustain themselves. This year we’re excited to present projects by the New York Public Library’s Picture Collection, Art Against Displacement, and Librarians for Palestine, among others.
The Shannon Michael Cane Award
This award is granted to emerging artists (artists, artists’ book publishers, or collectives in the early stages of their careers) who would be first-time exhibitors in a Printed Matter Art Book Fair. Each recipient is granted a complimentary table and an unrestricted stipend. Exhibitor applications were reviewed by a panel comprised of the founders of the Shannon Michael Cane Memorial Fund and Printed Matter staff. This year’s winners are Archivo de la Memoria Trans Argentina (Argentia), Girls and Queers to the Front (Poland), Independent Paper Consortium (IPC) (France), and Letargo Editorial (Chile).
Volume Grant
This funding opportunity is for artists and publishers who identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color. Recipients are granted a complimentary table at the Fair and an unrestricted stipend. This grant supports the ongoing creative work happening in marginalized communities through assistance with production, travel, and other necessary expenses. This year’s winners are By Black Sheep (New York), Extensive Publishing-Copyright/Reserved (Indonesia), Grace Issues (New York), and Jungle Network Zine (New York). This year’s NYABF Volume Grant jury included Sarula Bao, Maya Moumne, and Kikko Paradela.
Support for the NYABF 2025 Volume Grant is generously provided by the NYABF Committee.
Printed Matter Publisher Work Grant
The Printed Matter Publisher Work Grant offers an unrestricted award to three artists’ book publishers for future projects. The grant, supported by the Wagner Foundation, aims to strengthen an ecosystem of publishing practices that champion experimental artist-driven books, investing in culturally vital work that falls outside of mainstream support and distribution channels. The three recipients of the inaugural Publisher Work Grant will also exhibit at NYABF 2025: Reliable Copy, Chimurenga, and HAMBRE HAMBRE HAMBRE.
For NYABF 2025, Hassan Rahim has made a metal bookmark inspired by technological relics.
Exhibitor Projects
These special publication-focused projects are presented by select Fair exhibitors, hosted by Printed Matter. This year’s projects include an archival exhibition of ephemera from the queer collective Les Petites Bon Bons organized by Boo-Hooray; an outdoor installation of anti-war banners from the 1960s paired with a 2024 text completing a visual liturgy of grief, protest, and resilience from Bread & Puppet Press; a series of book covers from the 1960s-70s by Bruno Munari curated by Corraini Edizioni; an exhibition of photographic works by the artist Jun Fujita presented by Hat & Beard Press; an interactive exhibition reimagining the bureaucracy of travel by Special Special and 4N; an expansive installation of ephemera and archival materials from The Detroit Printing Co-op; and a presentation from Three Star Books featuring BlackMass Publishing, Gerared & Kelly, and Raffaella della Olga where print becomes pulse, typography becomes breath, and text becomes choreography.
Reading Room
The Reading Room is a new incarnation of Friendly Fire, a program initiated in 2011 to highlight activist and grassroots-focused Fair exhibitors. The Reading Room highlights Fair exhibitors engaged in activism and grassroots struggles related to a particular theme. The NYABF 2025 Reading Room is produced in dialogue with Archivos Desviados, an ongoing exhibition at Printed Matter’s bookstore in Chelsea, and explores the relationship between publishing and queer and trans liberation, third world solidarity, and revolutionary action. In contrast to the rapid speed at which visitors move through the Fair, this program offers an alternative space to engage in close reading, critique, and reflection. For NYABF 2025, the Reading Room will feature Allied Productions/Petit Versailles, Archivo de la Memoria Trans Argentina, Crisis Editions / Dane Press, DA HOLOGRAM, Pinko, and Publishing As Pleasure, among others.
Jason Polan Award
Founded in 2024, the Jason Polan Award honors the legacy of friend and artist Jason Polan (1982–2020). Jason was a close friend of Printed Matter and a longtime exhibitor at the NY Art Book Fair—his practice continues to inspire countless artists and illustrators who participate in the Fair. This award recognizes two artist publishers who work with illustration and embody the spirit of Jason’s practice through an appreciation of the everyday, friendship, and artistic community. The jury will review a shortlist of six nominated exhibitors, and announce the selected publishers on Sunday during the Fair, awarding an unrestricted grant.
The Jason Polan Award shortlist includes Heather Benjamin, Issue Press, nos:books, Pegacorn Press//Caroline Kern, Random Man Editions, and Sojourners for Justice Press.