Other Islands Book Fair: Independent Publishing, Cultural Production, and Design

On April 26 and 27, the Other Islands Book Fair returns to Pratt’s Brooklyn campus, bringing together over 40 independent publishers in a two-day event to engage in dialogue centered on making, cultural production, and graphic design.

The fair features a wide range of vendors, from Ugly Duckling Presse, known for experimental poetry and critical translation, to Columbia Books on Architecture and the City, which explores design theory and urban discourse, and from Gong Press, focused on contemporary Chinese art publications, to Draw Down Books, which offers a curated selection of works on graphic design, typography, and visual culture. Thesis books from students in Pratt’s Master in Communications Design program are also present, sitting alongside the work of established publishers to take part in a shared, evolving conversation about what publishing can be. 

Here, design is more than a mode of production but a method to think critically and contribute to culture. 

Conceived and organized by the Graduate Communications Design Department, the fair reflects an interesting shift in design education. Graduate study at Pratt is understood as transformation, as a space to reorient one’s practice to develop a professional purpose — one that emerges through inquiry, dialogue, and experimentation. 

This approach appeals to students from a range of backgrounds — some arriving from commercial design fields looking to deepen their practice, others entering from other disciplines seeking new skills. The program does not promote just one single model of success. It cultivates the ability to work across complex environments, to move between disciplines, and to situate one’s work in relation to both historical and emerging conversations.

And while the fair is an opportunity for industry exposure, it treats New York City’s publishing culture as a field shaped by students, vendors, visitors, organizers, and institutions like Pratt. That sensibility takes public form each year at the Other Islands Book Fair, where shared inquiry becomes visible and participatory.

To secure your free ticket, visit otherislandsbookfair.artsvp.com.