Call for Session Proposals:

Session proposals for the Book Fair are due May 2, 2018. You can submit your proposal here.

And please help us circulate the call below. Thanks!

The Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair is an annual event that brings together people interested and engaged in radical work to connect, learn, and discuss through books and information tables, workshops, panel discussions, skillshares, films, and more!  We seek to create an inclusive space to introduce new folks to anarchism, foster a productive dialogue between various political traditions as well as anarchists from different milieus, and create an opportunity to dissect our movements’ strengths, weaknesses, strategies, and tactics.

We are currently seeking workshop proposals for the 23rd Annual Book Fair to be held Saturday, September 15, 2018 at The Omni, The East Bay Community Space, and Temescal Arts Center.

Here’s how you can help us make this year’s Book Fair dynamic and engaging:

• Forward this call to a group that’s doing work that inspires you, especially if they’ve never come to the Book Fair.
• Submit a proposal for a workshop topic that has never before appeared at the Book Fair.
• Create a strategy to get a crowded room full of people talking about how to create the structures needed to dismantle capitalism.
• Organize an event (ex. a talk, a panel, a skillshare, a music show) throughout the week preceding the Book Fair, and let us know about it!  We will use the Book Fair’s website to promote what’s happening across the Bay Area.

What Are the Workshops?

The Book Fair provides an open forum for discussion among anarchists and individuals or groups who work with anarchists. Workshops will be generally facilitated by one person or a panel of people, and scheduled in blocks of 60-90 minutes. We encourage active hands-on participation, creativity, and enough time and space for questions, answers, and discussion. We strive to prioritize workshops with majority POC or self-identified women/nonbinary presenters.

We are looking for workshop proposals that:

• Are aimed at people who are curious about, or new to anarchist ideas and radical practices.
• Delve into a topic in depth intended for people who are already involved in the anarchist tradition or radical activism.
• Address broad, philosophical questions about our work and allow a constructive critique of our actions.
• Encourage dialogue between anarchists and other political tendencies, groups, or movements
• Explore the inner-workings of our work by highlighting stories or lessons learned.
• Share specific skills for better organizing and better living.
• Encourage and enable participants to make connections with each other.
• Tackle and propose strategies to struggles occurring in our local communities like gentrification, police violence, encampment raids.
• Connect anarchism and radical activism to current movements like environmental destruction, workers’ struggles, and immigration.

These parameters provide a starting point for developing a session, but please feel free to get creative and propose something outside of these categories.

How Do I Submit My Proposal?

To propose a session for the Book Fair, please submit this form on website by May 2, 2018. We will respond to you by mid-June and will finalize the program and confirm sessions in early July. As always the number of workshop slots is limited, so please get your proposal to us on time and understand if we cannot make room for you this year.

Go directly to the proposal form here.

What Else is Happening Besides the Book Fair?

In addition to the Book Fair, a variety of diverse anarchist themed events will occur at different venues throughout the Bay Area the week preceding and the weekend during the Book Fair. You can propose any type of event or activity; the only limitation is your imagination! These events will be organized autonomously from the Book Fair (think of the BASTARD conference, normally held on Sunday), and as such, venues are the responsibility of the event organizer—though the Book Fair organizers are happy to help with suggestions.

The Book Fair organizers are committed to helping promote autonomous events to the best of our ability through the event website and Facebook page. In general, contacting the Book Fair organizers in advance of scheduling the event is a useful way to ensure the least number of event conflicts.