£100 per year –
Select a one-off card payment above or recurring annual subscription here
£10 per month –
Set up a recurring monthly subscription here

The list of brilliant artists that Book Works has worked with is testimony to their reputation for producing some of the most exciting and original work at the intersections of art and literature. I was obviously thrilled to have been selected for the Interstices series simply on the merit of my proposal. It has been a year since the commission and I couldn’t be more grateful for the support I received. – Diana Georgiou, selected from open submission for Interstices, guest-edited by Bridget Penney.

Many of the artists that we have worked with talk about the investment, time, care and nurture they have experienced working with Book Works ­– particularly artists commissioned through open submission. We want you to become part of that supportive process. With you, we want to build a community of support that can help develop the ambitions of this commissioning platform, giving further opportunities to artists, writers and readers.

Drawn from the artists we have worked with and the readers who celebrate our books, we want to develop a core group to directly support two to three artists or writers commissioned as part of our most successful and most experimental commissioning platform – our annual open submission programme. This programme is developed with a guest editor to commission new works drawn exclusively from submissions to an open call. The programme has a history of giving a significant platform to artists and writers to expand ideas, often to those at the start of their career, without other institutional support or who have experienced significant barriers to their creative development. 

We are the only publicly funded arts organisation in the UK that dedicates a core part of its programme to commissioning through open submission. No other arts organisation has this focus. Our programme aims to be nurturing, transformative, and generative giving wide-ranging opportunities to artists and readers who are new to us, and who benefit from our established publishing platform and international distribution network.

Previous open submission series have included: New Writing Series (1995), guest edited by Michael Bracewell, which gave the first publicly funded commissions to David Shrigley and Jeremy Deller; Semina (2008-2015), guest edited by Stewart Home, that commissioned nine new works including The Dark Object by Katrina Palmer; and Common Objectives, guest edited by Nina Power (2012-16) that commissioned six books including Shy Radicals by Hamja Ahsan, who has now been selected for Documenta 2022 on the basis of this work. Our most recent series include Contact guest edited by Hannah Black, which has commissioned Hamishi Farah, Derica Shields, and Momtaza Mehri, Interstices, guest edited by Bridget Penney, has commissioned Harun Morrison and Diana Georgiou, and this year’s project Arrhythmia, guest edited by Katrina Palmer which will commission three new works for publication in 2023.

As a Supporter:

–Your name will be added to the Book Works’ website and in our annual report and catalogue.
– You will join our mailing list and receive invitations to Book Works’ private views and book launches and annual parties.
– You will become part of a Book Works community and help shape the development and support for artists commissioned through open submission.
– You will receive 10% discount on books, prints and special editions.

Please note direct debit payments are only available to UK customers, international payments are accepted for annual donations only by card or PayPal at checkout.

Increase the value of your donation at no further cost to you; if you are a UK taxpayer and are eligible to Gift Aid please tick the Gift Aid box at the checkout. We will send you a Gift Aid declaration form allowing Book Works, as a charity, to reclaim 25p of tax on every £1 you donate.

Contact louisa@bookworks.org.uk
Thank you for your support.