As Celebration, As Critique, As Play pulls together writings by Ron Hunt across his varied career as a writer, librarian, curator, critic, and self described "lapsed anarchist". Structured as a "biographic bibliography" supplemented with annotations and contextual notes, it combines commissioned writing and previously unpublished texts that range from exhibition catalogue essays and détourned Q&As, to A–Z indexes and cherry-picked readers.

During a varied career as a writer, curator, librarian, and critic, Ron Hunt has been a library assistant at the Victoria & Albert Museum, librarian in the Department of Fine Art at the University of Newcastle, visiting assistant professor at the University of British Columbia, instructor at Vancouver School of Art, and senior lecturer at Stourbridge College of Art. In 1972 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship and has lectured at institutions including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, AICA in Stockholm, and the Luma Foundation in Zurich. He has curated exhibitions including Poetry must be made by all / Transform the world! (1969) at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm; Descent into the Street (1966) at the University of Newcastle; and Francis Picabia (1963) presented at both the Hatton Gallery in Newcastle and Institute of Contemporary Art in London. He has written for various publications including Artforum, Art in America, Studio International, Art Monthly, and Modern Painters, and Bricks from the Kiln.

Matthew Stuart and Andrew Walsh-Lister are designers, editors, and writers currently based between the United Kingdom and United States, respectively. Together they edit Bricks from the Kiln and also collaborate on other publishing, editorial, and curatorial projects. Separately, Matthew Stuart is a senior lecturer in graphic design at Kingston School of Art, London. And Andrew Walsh-Lister is currently the 2019/20 Visiting Designer at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond.