I‘m so excited to announce that this week Anna Gleeson will be posting about The Tokyo Art Book Fair and the lovely books she saw there! Anna Gleeson is an artist-maker-illustrator who mostly makes books but sometimes busts out and makes giant earrings out of paper. Originally from Australia – she’s enjoying her first summer in Hong Kong; sweat, trams, black rain storms, the sound of mahjong games and massive moths that thump against the studio window at night. You can see her work on her website or follow her on her blog. And now for Anna’s first post about the show:

This was only the second zine’s mate – the first one last year was enormously popular with so many people showing up to opening night that someone called the police. It was a bit like an art book fair for sardines so this year’s move to a bigger venue was a welcome change.

At zine’s mate 2010 there were lots of events but my favourite was UMA Design Farm who set up a little studio with colourful backgrounds and wacky props on opening night, took peoples photos and made them a book in 20 minutes (thereby providing the perfect birthday present for my friend Akie). There was a great wall piece at the entrance by Naoki Sato and Daijiro Ohara – you can see him with a pencil touching it up here.

This year’s fair was a whole lot more international – I particularly liked Morel Books from London and Split Fountain from Auckland (I tried on a great pinhole sweater at their stall – tuck your head in and watch the world go by upside down on your belly). It felt like there was a whole lot more photography than last year and less illustration.

© Julia Rothman 2007