Birthday for Books
Austin bookmaking center celebrates 10th anniversary with free party
Whether for 10 years or 1,000, people have loved making books.
As the world goes digital, some Texans remain obsessed with books. For those who need to get their hands on something made of paper, there's the Austin Book Arts Center (ABAC), which is planning its 10th anniversary party for October 2 and looking forward to another decade of teaching the ancient art of hand-making books.
The free event will be held in the Cafetorium at the Baker School (3908 Avenue B.), a historic school in Hyde Park that has been preserved and partially reworked to house creative studios, offices, and other spaces. The Press Room, a letterpress workshop and preservation organization with locations at the school as well as in New York and Boston, is sponsoring and hosting the event. The team will offer demonstrations for bookish visitors.
Other community partners will also stop by to celebrate ABAC: emcee Greg Ciotti of KOOP Radio, magician Brad Henderson, and DJ Strawberry Blondie from Breakaway Records.In addition to the entertainment and hands-on activities, there will be food, drinks, and a raffle.
The event as a whole will raise funds for ABAC to continue pursuing its mission, so people who believe in the work but can't come are invited to make a donation of any amount. Whether RSVPing or donating, people can do both via Eventbrite.
ABAC co-founder and executive director Amanda Stevenson says the organization hopes to raise $10,000 to mark its 10th anniversary. She says this would be a "huge chunk" for such a small organization, and would allow ABAC to "do more programming, and increase our visibility, make a greater impact in the community right now." According to Stevenson, most of the organization's income is from paid workshops, so donations support free programming and more bandwidth for kids and schools.
The organization, and specifically founding board member Mark Hall, are also working on a documentary short on Priscilla Spitler, a book binder who now lives in New Mexico but greatly impacted bookmaking in Central Texas. This film will be the third in a series that Stevenson says shows why Austin and Central Texas are vital to the the national scene — and why the art form is worth getting involved in.
Visitors to ABAC tend to be designers, visual artists, and writers, Stevenson says.
"People still want that tactile quality that books [and] hand printing, gives us," she says. "It engages all five senses, like touch, smell, hearing. Whenever you're [at] the press, it's very intoxicating, I'll say. ... I've heard this said so many times: they want to get ink on their fingers and have a more physical connection to the art."
Despite the core physicality of bookmaking, the team at ABAC are proud to have survived the pandemic and created online programming. They've also been able to keep their home space on North Lamar Boulevard, even as the real estate market has become notorious for its fluctuations.
Stevenson especially thanks the Texas Commission on the Arts, which significantly increased its budget for 2026-27, softening the blow of funds lost from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for many organizations.
"We've managed to hang in there with our centrally located studio, and it's all due to our community," says Stevenson. "We have a lot of gratitude for Austin and our community, and we just want to celebrate that."
