Halifax’s Art Book Fair runs for the 3rd year in a row

Creatives from Nova Scotia and beyond came together for the Halifax Art Book Fair on Sept. 11 and 12 at the All Nations Church.

The fair invites art book publishers to sell their printed books within the Halifax community. The evetn also encouraged artists to host lectures, classes, artwork exhibitions and local film screenings. 

The fair was started by wife-and-husband duo Marite and Andrew Kuus-Hill in 2024, and has now been in operation for three years. 

“There’s no other art book fair [in the Maritimes]; there’s no other event of a similar kind,” says Marite. 

Bilisse Lem, a third-year student in biochemistry and molecular biology at Dalhousie University, was tabling for the Dalhousie Art Gallery at the fair. She was one of many people at the fair who praised the importance of print media. 

“It’s really hard to twist something or alter something that’s already been printed,” she says. “If somebody tries to change it from one of these books, you can tell it’s been scratched out. It’s a lot easier to erase or hide digital media.” 

Attendee Devin Schweighardt, a second-year photography student at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, also declared his admiration for owning physical media.

“Physical media is so important in today’s society where there’s hopefully going to be a great shift away from AI and streaming,” says Schweighardt. “I want everybody to go back to physical media and to have things that they own.”

Katherine Diemert is a recent NSCAD fine arts graduate who was at the fair to represent other recent master graduates’ work from the school. She has attended the event before and says that it’s very welcoming.

“It’s super important, especially in art spaces where [it] can feel very gatekept … If you don’t know the lingo, or you don’t know the people in the space, it can feel like a barrier to entry.”

Marite says that she and her husband wanted to create a space that is accessible to the public and general audiences.

“Everyone [already] knows what a book is. So that’s a way to encourage people to engage with art through this familiar, comforting thing that everyone understands.”