Stop by UMD’s Farmers’ Market at Tawes Plaza and print a postcard with a socially relevant message on a traditional wooden printing press with hand set metal type—courtesy of the Department of English’s BookLab.

BookLab is the UMD Department of English’s makerspace, studio, library and community letterpress. BookLab's resources include three hand-presses for letterpress printing (a "Book Beetle" modelled on the historic Gutenberg screw press, an authentic 19th-century Victorian parlor press and a Line-O-Scribe sign press for poster and broadside work); a cabinet full of lead type and ornaments in various sizes and styles as well as wood type; a 3D printer; tools and hardware for bookbinding and paper-making, sensors, circuitry and paper computing materials (like conductive thread and thermochromic ink); two iPads; and a collection of several hundred artists' books, experimental books, chapbooks, zines, historical artifacts and books about books. BookLab hosts classes, runs workshops, organizes talks and symposia and maintains regular open hours.
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This event is part of NextNOW Fest 2022. NextNOW Fest is a signature event in University of Maryland's Arts for All initiative, which leverages the combined power of the arts, technology and social justice to address the grand challenges of our time. In addition to the festival's student, academic and touring artists lineup at The Clarice, NextNOW Fest will continue partnerships with student-led groups, academic departments and community organizations to hold the festival at sites throughout campus and into College Park!

VIEW FULL 2022 FESTIVAL SCHEDULE