A Bit of History
Bound Together Bookstore presented the first Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair on March 30, 1996. The event was organized to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Bound Together, and took place in the San Francisco County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park near Ninth Avenue and Lincoln Way, where the event is still held annually today. Admission is free.
(See the store webpages for more information about Bound Together Anarchist Collective Bookstore .
In 1996, approximately 40 anarchist and alternative book, magazine, and publishers were present at tables selling and distributing materials and examples of their work. Keynote speakers included sex-positive educator, author and radical feminist Susie Bright, Jello Biafra from the Dead Kennedy’s, and cutting edge lesbian author Kathy Acker.
The bookfair continues to grow, attracting participants from the bay area and around the world. We’ve been honored to present many speakers over the years, some very well known and others not; each year some old friends returning along with new faces.
Below are links to stories about other past Bay Area Anarchist Book Fairs:
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the archive.
Speakers at the 2008 book fair included Jules Boykoff, Terence Kissack, Kristian Williams and many others. Panel discussions included topics such as “Palestine: Responses to Occupation” and Anarchist Parenting. Some pictures were posted on IndyBay.
Tiny Garcia, Saul Landau, Wendy-O-Matic, Fly, Jen Angel, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Stephen Dunifer and many others spoke at the 2007 fair. 2007 fair description by Erika Ransom posted on Indybay.
A full list of speakers, vendors and discussion about the Eleventh Annual Book Fair (2006) is available as a thread on SF IndyMedia. Video of Ward Churchill speaking was shown on SF cable access show Channel Zero and is on the web. (See also other videos of past fairs.) (2006 poster by Hugh D’Andrade)
Several photos from the Tenth Annual Bookfair (2005) by Steve Rhodes. Also a story that appeared in USA Today, “Ten years after it started, the Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair has become a popular rallying point for the far left, thanks to shared enemies like the Bush Administration and the Patriot Act.” There was also an interesting article in the SFGate, “Thousands of like-minded souls with a taste for state smashing, patriarchy toppling, government defying, feminism, punk, radical politics and children’s books with titles like “Herb, the Vegetarian Dragon” came out in force for the 10th Annual Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair. The SF Bay Times also published one participant’s thoughts on the Bookfair.
“Featured speakers for the Ninth Annual Bay Area Book Fair (2004) include famed journalist and author Alexander Cockburn, writer and activist Starhawk, dyke singer and novelist Lynn Breedlove, queer poet and musician Tim’m T. West, Agent Apple of the Biotic Baking Brigade (A-Infos.)
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The Eighth Annual Bay Area Book Fair (2003) list of speakers and full discussion thread on IndyBay.
In 2002, AK Press released, “Mob Action Against the State: Collected Speeches from the Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair,“a CD that includes among others: Jello Biafra, spoken word artist and ex-frontman for punk band Dead Kennedys; Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti; author Christian Parenti (Lockdown America); author and punk rocker Craig O’Hara (The Philosophy of Punk); anti-prison activist and author Ruth Wilson Gilmore (Golden Gulag); and Emma Goldman Papers Project curator Barry Pateman.
“On Saturday, March 29, 1997, anarchists and other bibliophiles gathered from around the world in San Francisco for the Second Annual Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair. While the focus was on books, there were also speakers and an art show. I really enjoyed the Fair. I was there as an exhibitor for Spunk Press, an online anarchist archive…I got a chance to meet archivists from the Kate Sharpley Library, the Labadie Collection, and the Anarchy Archives in Massachusetts…” (story by Chuck on Infoshop.org)
2008 & 2007 book fair posters by Hugh D’Andrade
