Inkspire.gallery’s 2026 Fall Illustration Contest will challenge emerging artists to illustrate a chap-book edition of North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (1855). This project shines a spotlight on the novel’s enduring relevance—an exploration of empathy and social justice that continues to resonate today.

Artists will have the opportunity to illustrate a themed prompt by choosing to showcase their own unique style, or by paying homage to any Western or global art tradition.

Illustration credit: Samuel Luke Fildes, detail from “The Empty Chair”, engraving after a watercolor, 1870.)