In the spring of 2016 the exhibition 1001 Steidl Books was held at DECK in Singapore, an independent platform for art and photography. On the occasion of the exhibition artists from across Asia were invited to submit book dummies for the Steidl Book Award Asia. A single award was planned, but from the many books Gerhard Steidl finally chose eight: The submissions were all so strong, so surprising and varied, that it would have been unfair to just choose one. Together with the co-founder and director of DECK Gwen Lee, and the creative director of WERK Theseus Chan, the eight photographers came to Steidl in Göttingen in January 2017 to make their books.

"Eight Books for Asia" is a limited-edition set containing all the winning books along with additional printed literature on the project, presented in a screen-printed cardboard box.