Melbourne Art Book Fair 2026

The Melbourne Art Book Fair takes over the city for its 12th edition this May, assembling a wide-reaching network of publishers, designers and artists working at the forefront of contemporary publishing. Presented as part of Melbourne Design Week, the fair continues to cement Melbourne’s role as a key player in the global publishing and art book circuit.

Opening weekend kicks off with the popular Stallholder Fair (May 15 to 17), anchoring the festival at the NGV with more than 100 exhibitors across art books, zines and experimental publishing. The line-up includes local heavyweights like Perimeter, cult zine imprint Sticky Institute and photobook specialists Melbourne Photobook Collective, alongside international players like Netherlands-based Idea Books, Indonesian archivists Grafis Nusantara, New Zealand’s Compound Press and many more.

Beyond the stalls, the program expands into a citywide series of events. Highlights include Repair Stories, a climate-focused panel and launch led by Perimeter; Book Designers in Conversation with the Australian Book Designers Association; viewings of the NGV's Fashion Research Collection, a behind-the-scenes viewing of rare fashion magazines and ephemera; and talks such as Slow Burn Books’ Scoping the Archives explore publishing as both practice and research 

Elsewhere, workshops including risograph sessions at the Nicholas Building’s Tree Paper, while Melbourne-based “artistic food practice” Long Prawn presents A Decade of Menus, a survey of menu culture, and Sydney publication Soft Stir presents a mix of live readings and music at Brunswick venue Tender Place.

First launched by the NGV in 2015, the Melbourne Art Book Fair came about in response to the rise of international art book fairs in cities like New York City, Mexico and Madrid. It builds on Melbourne’s 2008 designation as a Unesco City of Literature, continuing to champion our thriving art publishing scene and the people who sustain it.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with the National Gallery of Victoria.

Kicking off with the Stallholder Fair from May 14–15, the Melbourne Art Book Fair runs until May 24. Browse the full program online.