People no longer have to use typewriters, publishers or bookshops to make and share stories and poetry. The digital revolution has disrupted the traditional book world, but opened up amazing possibilities for creative readers and writers.

Since if:book uk was founded in 2007 by writer Chris Meade, we’ve been at the forefront of debate about the future of the book in the digital age.

Chris is making an evolving digital fiction at www.nearlyology.com, part of a practice-based PhD in Digital Writing at Bath Spa University. speaks at conferences and events around the UK and the world, blogs at www.bookfutures.com, works with if:book associates on projects, productions and events using imagination, collaboration and new media to ILLUMINATE & AMPLIFY the word. if:book uk partners with other agencies to run projects and events including the New Media Writing Prize with Bournemouth University, and a literary salon at Loughborough University.

In 2013 he set up THE IFSO PRESS, making home-cooked collaborative literature happenings, including Story Park with David Almond and Set Poetry Free, a digital poetry anthology for schools.

We are a charitable company exploring digital possibilities for literature, linked to Bob Stein’s INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE OF THE BOOK in New York and  IF:BOOK AUSTRALIA in Brisbane.

If:book UK is an associate of the Free Word Centre in Farringdon, London and helped to create  the IF:BOOK CAFE in Hornsey Library, part of a project on the Future of the Book Place.  Chris recently appeared on Radio 4′s Cultural Exchange, launching the BBC’s year of culture, and last summer was a participant in Tino Seghal’s These Associations at Tate Modern. He’s currently Nearlywriter in Residence at Hornsey Library.

picture from if:book Nearlywriting Workshop with digital artist Mushon Zer-Aviv