Every spring, students from the Book and Paper program participate in a celebration of reading and books, the annual Edible Books and Tea. Participants are required to construct a book or a reference to a book– in food! This event is run by the Center for Book and Paper Arts and the Columbia College Chicago Library.

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This year’s theme was Zines, Comics, and Graphic Novels. There were a diverse range of entries: a couple Watchmen, a V for Vendetta (mine), Ghost World, Dagwood, Popeye. It was a very fun group. All of the books are put on display at the beginning of the night and then people vote. The categories are things like best visual pun (this year Book and Paper student Claire Sammons took that one home with “Toast World”, a play on Ghost World made of toast and cinnamon), best in show, best presentation, most book like, etc. So, people vote, the winners are announced, and then the whole room chows down – devouring the books. Edible Books was required for me, as I’m taking a class called Artists Books right now. I saw it as some mandatory fun, a required break during the middle of the semester.

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It was lovely to be silly, make some funny creations, and spend some time with my classmates. The end of the semester is fast approaching, which means some high stress levels and really busy days, so fitting in some time to relax is mandatory for sanity. Hooray for delicious edible books.