History

From 350 people in 2008, the Bristol Anarchist Bookfair has grown and shrank through the years… Here we try to pull together some reflections from across the years:

Sun 24/11/24: a “mini anarchist bookfair”, held once more at the Exchange, the latest of a series of quarterly Exchange bookfairs, taken over from Active by a new bookfair crew, during the COVID pandemic.

Sun 26/11/23: another one of Active’s Bristol Radical Bookfairs at the Exchange. This had talks on anarchism in the workplace, Hugh Holmes Gore, the Herbal yearbook, and the ISM.

Sat 13/05/23: another Active jobby, featuring talks on resisting Turkish state fascism, the ‘Save Kilvy Hill’ campaign in Swansea, and on anarchist constitutional politics.

Sat 10/12/22: another Bristol Radical Bookfair organised by Active at the Exchange, this featured talks on food under capitalism, an introduction to Bristol Herbalists Without Borders’s herbal almanac, and new uses of the Riot charge by the state.

Sun 25/09/22: those Active folks sure were prolific! This one featured talks on Dope magazine, nautical women, Kill The Bill prisoner support, the Don’t Pay UK energy strike (which never quite got off the ground), reports from Bakur in North Kurdistan, and absolutely no royal mourning.

Sun 20/02/22: the second Bristol Radical Bookfair, this one delayed from its original December date.

Sat 21/12/19: the first of a series of (maybe 6?) Bristol Radical Bookfairs organised by Active Distribution at the Exchange in Oldmarket. Punters were encouraged to donate books to raise funds for Heyva Sor, the Kurdish Red Crescent.

Sat 12/05/18: held at both the Black Swan and BASE Social Centre, it included workshops on anarchist creative writing, anarchist structures, climate action, consent, decolonising spirituality, fighting TERFs, Kurdish solidarity, opposing IPP, and radical parenting, amongst others.

Sat 16/09/17: this year’s bookfair moved away from Trinity, and instead returned to St. Werburgh’s Community Centre, and featured over 30 stalls and 19 workshops.

Sat 30/04/16: the 8th Bristol Anarchist Bookfair, also at the Trinity, with a focus on ‘Building an Anarchist Future’. Once more, it featured a Radical History Zone, held at the much-missed Hydra Books in Old Market. As well as 61 stalls, and 30+ workshops, it once more had over a 1,000 through the door. This one also held an arts display, and the after party was run by LaDIYfest. The following day, a May Day parade ended at the TUC event at Trinity, the parade somewhat fuelled by “Mojitos for the Masses!”

Sat 25/04/15: the 7th Bristol Bookfair, held at the Trinity Centre again. Held a fortnight before the general elections, it had a focus on anti-electoralism. It featured a soap box, an outdoor permaculture space, was accompanied by a Radical History Zone (back in the days before they had their own festival!) down at Hydra, and was followed by an after-party at the Red Lion, with Qeld, the Autonomads, Grand Collapse, Mercurious Rising, Viva Zapata!, and DJs. Another day with a 1,000 or so through the door.

Sat 26/04/14: also at the Trinity, this year’s event featured 50 stalls, 33 talks, an outdoors fun fayre, a Radical History Zone at Hydra, and an after party at the Red Lion (with Ash Victim, Hazel Winter, MC Amalgam, and Public Order Act).

Sat 20/04/13: some of the older organising collective were joined by newer folks, and the 5th Bookfair moved to Trinity, with the RHZ taking place down the road at Hydra Bookshop. Whilst the outdoor space was utilised for extra meetings in marquees, inside featured a kids’ space, and the backstage room was run by local activists and Counselling for Social Change, providing a quiet supportive space, alongside workshops on topics such as burnout.

After someone thought it would be funny to invite then-mayor George Ferguson, he had coffee poured on him! The bookfair had 60 stalls, 30 workshops, mostly centred around the statement “We won’t pay for their recession”. Ironically, we did. Some 1,000 people visited. BASE (then called ‘Kebele’) Cafe provided over 300 meals, plus snacks, cakes and drinks – raising funds for both BASE and the Bookfair at all four Trinity Bookfairs. Each of the Bookfairs at Trinity also covered its costs, held enough money on account for the next year, and donated out surplus funds.

2012 – No Bookfair this year! The organising collective took a break, in part due to many other activities going on, but also because a call for more people to get involved fell on deaf ears.

Sat 07/05/11: held at the Canteen in Hamilton House, post-Stokes Croft riots, in the week after a royal wedding, and that Banksy poster (for which people were queuing around the block before the Bookfair started). This was a very tense affair, given that the cops had told a community meeting that they wanted to stop the Bookfair from happening… and people organised to make sure they couldn’t if they tried; they didn’t try! This year’s bookfair had 60 tables of stalls, and 34 events spread across six spaces, including Bristol Indymedia & RHZ. We reckoned over 1,500 people came in, whilst others just bought the Banksy poster. There were events all week before the bookfair, and an after-party down the road at the the Full Moon’s club space. We also produced a Bookfair t-shirt! Again, this year made a £surplus (even after covering next year’s approx costs), which was donated out. In addition, the £3,000 of poster sales went to three local causes close to our hearts.

Sat 11/09/10: taking place at Hamilton House, this saw the creation of the Radical History Zone in collaboration with Bristol Radical History Group. We were up to 47 stalls and four meeting rooms – which included a Bristol Indymedia one and the first Radical History Zone (RHZ by BRHG). Over 800 people came. Again, events were held beforehand; and again we more than covered costs, donating out over £650, whilst holding £900 in the bank for next year.

Sat 12/09/09: at The Island (Artspace Lifespace) – the Bookfair kick-started a week or more of Co-Mutiny events and action in Bristol. It was also proceeded by film nights, and benefit gigs – courtesy of Bastard Squad. This year, Bristol Indymedia had their own Bookfair room for the first time. Like in 2008, this year more than covered its costs to help fund the next one, and some benefit gigs were jointly held with other groups – another trend that continued. Some 500+ people attended.

Sat 13/09/08: the first Bristol bookfair in over a decade, this took place at St. Werburgh’s Community Centre, and featured live acoustic music, 26 stalls, and 25 workshops, including such topics as an alternative cycling tour of Bristol, anarchist principles & tactics, bike maintenance, climate change, the economy, a lesson in Taiji, and transition towns.