2026 NYIABF Presents
This program was made possible with the proud support of Bank of America Private Bank, whose partnership reflects a shared commitment to preserving culture and fostering meaningful connections within the collecting community.
NYIABF Presents is an annual series of panels that extend the fair beyond the booth, offering deeper engagement with the ideas behind collecting. Curated by the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA), the series brings together collectors, scholars, artists, and dealers to explore how rare books intersect with literature, history, and contemporary culture.
Story Time for Curious Minds
Friday, May 1 at 3 pm
From the beginning of our existence, stories were how we made sense of the world. Fables and fairytales teach us how to communicate, navigate, and grow. They teach us how to dream and interpret those dreams; how to relate to one another and understand what is unique and universal in our experiences. With a declining national literacy rate and a growing list of banned books, we felt it appropriate to create a space for children to reconnect with the narrative form through an hour of readings by writers and artists.
Supported by Park Avenue Armory
Revolution & Absurdity: Responding to Injustice
Saturday, May 2 at 11 am
Moderator and Founding Ambassador Jesse Paris Smith joined Patti Smith, Sunday Steinkirchner, and Nicholas Lowry for a panel exploring how writers, artists, and thinkers have responded to injustice through books, poetry, graphic art, and visual culture. Drawing on material presented by exhibitors at this year’s fair, the discussion traced connections between historic works of protest and contemporary cultural expression, examining both direct resistance and more surreal or absurdist responses to moments of crisis.
Moderator & Founding Ambassador Jesse Paris Smith
Letters as Literature
Saturday, May 2 at 1 pm
This panel traced the origins and development of the epistolary form in Western literature, examining classics like Dracula, Frankenstein, and Dangerous Liaisons, as well as contemporary memoirs like Barbara Chase Riboud's I Always Knew. A writer herself, Camille Okhio led the conversation with Gabriel Boyers (Schubertiade Music & Arts) and Sammy Jay (Peter Harrington), exploring how written correspondence drives creative and emotional realizations and how the epistolary form supports narrative development.
Moderator & NYIABF Ambassador Camille Okhio
Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions at the Morgan Library
Saturday, May 2 at 2:30 pm
Exhibition curators Josh O’Driscoll and Frank Trujillo spoke about the origins of Tarot in Renaissance Italy, the earliest surviving decks from the fifteenth century, and the cards' ongoing relevance as a source for artists in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Trujillo is the Drue Heinz Book Conservator at the Morgan Library and Museum’s Thaw Conservation Center. Josh O’Driscoll is the Melvin R. Seiden Curator and Department Head of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts at the Morgan Library and Museum.
Surviving Papers: Queer Activist Archives & Material Histories
Saturday, May 2 at 4 pm
A conversation between activist and writer Adam Eli, publisher and archivist Daylon Orr (Fugitive Materials), and art historian and curator Drew Sawyer, exploring the material histories of queer activism. The three discussed the legacies of ACT UP, Gay Activist Alliance, Lesbian Feminist Liberation, and other lesser-known community organizers, in addition to the critical work of preserving their archives.
Speaker & NYIABF Exhibitor
Daylon Orr
Speaker & NYIABF Ambassador Adam Eli
Speaker Drew Sawyer
Bygone Literary Los Angeles: Joan Didion, Eve Babitz & Others
Saturday, May 2 at 5:30 pm
Author Lili Anolik (Didion & Babitz) joined author Stephanie Danler (Sweetbitter) for a conversation moderated by Air Mail editor Julia Vitale. They discussed LA's rich literary history and Anolik's forthcoming book of newly discovered letters by Eve Babitz.
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