Spineless Wonders

Spineless Wonders is an international network of artists, writers, academics and librarians, creating and researching small press publications including artists books.

We are based in the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL; Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study; The Department of Art & Performance, Manchester School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University; and department of English, Dundee University; UCL Special Collections, Modernism, Rare Book and Manuscript collections; Senate House Library, University of London; department of English, Stanford University, Stanford CA; and other university and public libraries.

Activities and events

Copper plate print, 2022

photo by Lesley Sharpe

We organised one-day research events with a range of presentations and speakers focussing on specific research themes and delving into marginalised university and public collections. These public events took place with live participants based in a number of locations and linked together online by Zoom.

November 12 2021: Small Press Artists Books; and Introduction to the Global Book; Materials, Materiality and Process
February 18 2022: Community Presses; Multilingualism and Translation; Ephemera and the Environment
May 13 2022: Queer Publishing; Digital forms of the Book and Archive; Roundtable and making a Global Book
May 5 2023: The Zine, Type And Script
November 17 2023: Spineless Wonders of Wales: poetry, presses and zines. Co-sponsored by Stanford University and the National Library of Wales, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru.

These research events aimed to address issues of the history and unique relevance of small press publications and ephemera, in particular those without a spine, Spineless Wonders. We made links to Egyptian papyri, inscribed stones, scrolls and medieval manuscripts, including a range of languages - Persian, Coptic and Hebrew, and looking at the relation between material and digital publication.

Associated Events

Spineless Spotlights: Pamphlets from Senate House Library’s Collections online via the Institute of English Studies,
University of London
21 June 2021

Celebrating the Legacies of Black Ink
Brixton Tate Library
Friday, 19 May 2023, 7.00pm to 9.00pm
An evening with Desrie Thomson-George, who presented at Spineless Wonders, 2022, co-founder of the Black Ink Collective, will tell its story with readings and performances by Kadija George Sesay, Sandra Agard, Jason Lee, Derek Owusu, and Stxkz to commemorate the 45th Anniversary of its birth.