bookfair poster

The Daily
By Daphne Bunker
October 24, 2025

For the past month or so, black-and-white printer paper posters, wheatpasted to telephone poles around the U-District and beyond, have advertised the annual Seattle Anarchist Bookfair. Packed with attendees and the passion of self-publishing, the event brought together over 40 tablers, with zines, books, stickers, bookmarks, t-shirts, and posters, often for free or priced by suggested donation.

The fair, held at the Vera Project on Oct. 18 and Oct. 19, additionally hosted workshops throughout both days. Topics ranged from “How to Research Your Landlord” to the “[Antifascist International Front] Myanmar Reportback,” and additionally provided fully staffed childcare on site.

One of the book fair’s organizers, Lizard, has attended the book fair since 2012 as a tabler and presenter and became an organizer in the mid-2010s.

“It’s almost like an anarchist family reunion in a way,” Lizard said. “Where a lot of folks from all over, both Seattle and the region, Western Washington, Washington, the Pacific Northwest, and even farther come through and get to share in the things that I love the most, which are books and zines, and talking to each other, catching up, meeting new folks. It’s super chill.”

Stopping by a table always went beyond picking up a zine or asking to purchase a sticker. The tablers would introduce themselves, say where they were from, and chat about the work they were doing. Literature ranged from collections by poets in Gaza, to archival reproductions of Silicon Valley activists’ resistance on company time, to chronicles of colonial forestry and tribal sovereignty in the Olympic Peninsula.

Lizard emphasized the value of the range of works, noting how anarchy as a political realm is characterized by its diversity.

“I feel like anarchy gets misunderstood as just one thing or a few things as opposed to what it is, which is chaotic,” Lizard said. “We want total freedom for everything, and that’s the basis of it all, and then how you get there and what that looks like is gonna be different.”

Having an “anarchist family reunion,” where people with these countless individual viewpoints can meet and catch up, is a valuable part of the book fair.

“I like prosocial spaces like this because it becomes easier to meet each other and go a little farther when it comes to solidifying one’s politic, as well as what one wants to see for themself,” Lizard said.

The first day of the fair, Oct. 18, coincided with Seattle's march in the national “No Kings” protest. Crowds gathered in Seattle Center for the march, just yards away from the book fair and the Vera Project.

Seeing these two events, right next to each other, in their different hues of resistance, highlighted the uniqueness of the book fair and anarchism as a political philosophy. The crowds of “No Kings,” though varied, largely called for protecting the Constitution and fighting for democratic governance. Anarchism rejects the idea of a state entirely and imagines other possibilities of self-determination.

Lizard laughed when I asked what it was like to be neighbors with “No Kings.” They noted the presence of American flags and belief in the United States as a nation to be particularly jarring, but ultimately shrugged.

“I don’t feel very much affinity with folks that want to keep the United States being what it is,” Lizard said. “I don’t know. Do you. Just don’t bug me.”

The event format of the book fair also highlighted the uniqueness of anarchism, with the plethora of self-published works exemplifying the core of what it means to choose to be an anarchist.

“It takes bravery,” Lizard said. “I think anarchism is a politic of bravery, and being willing to move beyond what is even conceived, and imagining and using a lot of imagination on what could potentially be.”

Paper, ink, and ideas flowed in and out of The Vera Project all weekend, a free exchange of the multitudes of anarchism and the works of community members gathering for the annual reunion. Another year of the book fair means another year of new people coming into the fold and getting to share what they have to say. Lizard believes that’s what the book fair is about.

“Finding small folks, folks who haven’t gotten to put stuff out before, that’s sick,” Lizard said. “A whole new idea, a whole new perspective.”

Comments

anarchist boy (not verified) Sat, 11/01/2025 - 16:42

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

Are there fights? What fights? I'll bring the gloves.

anonymous (not verified) Sat, 11/01/2025 - 21:32

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

WDYM? Society is the struggle and it's happening 24/7. The cops and ICE clowns hired by the billionaire club are just the surface scum of the cesspool. Our goal here is to overcome society. "Destroying it"!? How do you destroy a social relationship? The shopping mall has got old; it's everywhere now. So the question is what do you do as anarchist at the shopping mall? Go punch ghosts in the air in the middle of the parking lot as much as you'd like, and plz post vids of it brow!

anonymous (not verified) Sun, 11/02/2025 - 05:40

In reply to by anonymous (not verified)

One becomes intuitive and minimalistic, thus ambushing "The Mall" by being a non-consuming opponent of the criminal merchant society. That's how brah!

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