SAS Artist book readings SEASon 3 call for proposals

The S Apostrophe S Artist Book Reading Series is seeking proposals for the third season of the series, with readings taking place in early November 2025 and throughout 2026. All of the readings will be held on Zoom. Submissions will close on Sunday, August 3, 2025 at 10 pm EST. All applicants will be notified by September 12, 2025.

DETAILS

  • For this new season we are soliciting calls for readings of books that are not yet completed or are over three years old. We want the readings to be a chance for you to debut or test out new work, or to completely reimagine older work for the reading/performance format.

  • Artists’ books will be interpreted very broadly for this series. All visual/text formats are welcome: zines, limited editions, fine press, open edition artist books, visual poetry, comics, animations, digital art, hybrid media, etc., but all submissions must be tied to a physical book, a “physical” “book,” or other publication.

  • Readings can be live, recorded (audio or video), and/or can include visual elements. They could also be a combination of all of those things (& maybe others!). We encourage all proposals to take into consideration the strengths of the Zoom format and the fact these readings will be presented to a live audience.

  • These are not talks about artist book projects. They are performative readings/enactments of the “books.”

  • You will be submitting a proposal, and we expect that the final performance will differ from what you submit. We work with each reader to develop their proposal into a reading/performance.

  • Individual performances will be a maximum of 10 minutes long with 3 or 4 readers per event. Our plan for this season is to mix readers presenting old and new work in each event. 

  • All readers will be paid $150. Funding for this series comes from crowdfunding donations and community sponsors. 

  • We welcome collaborative proposals! The $150 payment will be split among the collaborators.

  • All of the readings will be recorded and posted on the SAS Youtube channel and on our Substack page.


WHAT TO SUBMIT

  • Proposal submissions involve two steps:

  • All proposals should be submitted as a single PDF with all of the images and text in the following sequence: Text of proposal, book/publication info, images/media of work, and (optional) full text of work. See this example for reference.

  • The proposal: Write a brief description of the project(s) that you intend to read and how it will be realized in the reading format. Include information on content, concept, structure, materials (for the physical book, if applicable), as well as any plans or ideas that you have for the reading. Proposals for new/unfinished work should address how you see the work developing and how the reading will be connected to that. Proposals for older work should address how the work will be reimagined or revised for the reading/performance format. 200 words max. Proposals exceeding the word limit will not be considered.

  • Book info: Include the following information (but disregard any of these that aren’t relevant to your piece):

    • Title

    • Media

    • Date

    • Size (when open)

    • Page count

    • Edition/Printing (Briefly describe the type of edition and how many copies were made. For example: “Limited edition of 10 copies.” “Open edition. Currently in the second printing of 200 copies.” “Unlimited digital edition.” “DIY print-on-demand.” Etc.)

    • Info: (Any contextual info for the images or links. Tell us what we’re looking at. 75 words max.)

  • Images/Media: All of these should be embedded directly in the PDF. Audio or video files should be embedded as links, and each audio/video file must be less than 3 minutes in length. 2 - 5 images/media total.

  • (Optional) Full text of work: You can include the text of the piece. Please note if the text is a draft or is final. If a draft, the proposal should address how it might develop. No word limit.

  • 10 MB file size limit on proposal PDFs.

  • Submissions close at 10 pm EST on Sunday, August 3, 2025.

  • Questions?  Contact us at sasreadingseries@gmail.com