Here we come…

after a year off we’re back for our 5th Bookfair in 2013! The Bookfair Collective has switched venues this year to somewhere with more outdoor space, and we’re a little earlier in anticipation of another hot April. Taking the outdoors theme a little further, expect a potential playfull mix of bookfair and fayre. But we remain deadly serious about the politics, we live in dramatic times. There is much to play for. Free up your day and join us for free.

Programme – download (2.9mb pdf) Programme-front&back and download centre-spread of meetings times & descriptions (130kb pdf) Programme-centrepages. Paper copies available on the day, or in advance from 10 April at Kebele social centre & Hydra Books.

Stalls – see a list of confirmed stalls check out the Stalls page.

Workshops/Meetings – download the pdf Bookfair meetings timetable (meeting titles only) and see more detailed info on the Workshops & Meetings page.

Publicity – help us publicise the event. Link to our website, print off some posters, tell your friends, and see the resources on our publicity page.

Also see our Facebook page; Bookfair Facebook event; After-Party Facebook event;

April 13th ‘Secrets & Spies’ event @ Hydra Books Facebook event;

April 15th Stop G8 event @ The Cube Facebook event;

Twitter: @bristolbookfair

Bookfair layout – what’s on where:

Bookfair Infopoint – outside in carpark near entrance.

Trinity building ground floor – some stalls; vegan cafe; kids with adults space; the Dressing room (small meeting room behind stage); art display on the stage; toilets including disabled (and private) cubicle.

Trinity first floor – main stalls room; Bookfair Assembly meeting room (with toilets off it, including disabled cubicle); The Room With A View meeting room (just off main stalls room, aka IT suite).

Trinity outside – the Permanent Culture Now Marque; the Marquee Z for more bookfair meetings; the Tin Roof Shack; Permaculture garden with a compost toilet (4 steps up); Fayre.

Hydra Bookshop – just down the road for the Radical History Zone.

Venues: The Trinity Centre, Trinity Road, Bristol BS2 0NW, from 11am to 6.00pm. The Trinity Centre is the home of Trinity Community Arts. The venue has full wheelchair access, including a lift to the first floor. Respect to them for hiring us the venue. Please respect it, the gardens, and the surrounding area. Please use the rubbish & recycling bins provided. Thanks. Trinity location map

All stalls, meetings (inside & in the garden), vegan cafe, kids space and fayre will be at The Trinity, except for this years….

Radical History Zone – which will be a meeting space run by Bristol Radical History Group just down the road at Hydra Bookshop, 34 Old Market Street, Bristol BS2 0EZ. This venue has level access. (location map). From Trinity to Hydra – a map!

Parking: At Trinity parking is extremely limited and will be reserved for a very few stallholders and other vehicles supplying the bookfair – by prior arrangement only. Other stallholders can drop off by 10.45am only, the car park will then be closed to vehicles until 6pm (except for disabled drivers only – we have about 4 spaces set aside).

Do Not park or drop off in Trinity Road, it is a busy road, there’s double yellow lines, cctv, and a police station opposite. Try and come by bus, foot or bike!

At Hydra there is no parking, except drop off on Old Market Street where you park for a max of 1hour – very limited spaces.

More info here for location, public transport, parking and accessibility.

Vegan Cafe – this is run by Kebele cafe collective volunteers. There will be drinks & snacks all day, and main meals from 12noon to 3pm. Prices are cheap. Proceeds from the cafe support Kebele social centre, and a donation from the Cafe helps pay for the Bookfair’s costs.

Kids with adults space – this is a screened off space adjacent to the vegan cafe & stalls, for young children with adults. There will be some comfy chairs/sofas, kids toys and arts materials. Please note this is not a supervised creche – you cannot leave your kids here unsupervised! There will also be some kids activities outside, weather allowing.

NO Bar – there will be No Bar open at Trinity centre during the day, and event has no alcohol license. If you need alcohol there are pubs on Braggs Lane; New St; West St/Old Market St; and Stapleton Rd. The After-Party at The Croft does have a bar and runs from 8pm-2am. Its a 20minute walk from Trinity – see map below.

Respect & Tolerance – we welcome everyone to this event and intend that everyone is treated with equal respect. We ask everyone attending to do likewise, and respect others opinions. However we will ask deliberately disruptive people to leave after due warning. We also reserve the right to refuse admission where necessary.

Any filming/recording should only take place with the prior agreement of the organisers, and of those being recorded. Any covert recording will not be tolerated. It will make a change to not be filmed by persons unknown for a day!

The corporate media and the police are not welcome nor needed inside the bookfair, and are politely asked to not attempt to enter undercover.

See comment from the Bookfair collective on why we are using The Trinity.



Bookfair after-party fundraiser: will be at The Croft, at 117 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3RW from 8pm to 2am on Saturday 20 April. Its a joint fundraiser with Bristol Defendant Solidarity. £5 on the door. There’s a confirmed mix of bands & DJ’s – details on Other Events page. Also a Facebook Event.

From The Trinity to The Croft – a map!



Other Events: we hope groups & campaigns will put on linked events in the run up to the Bookfair, such as gigs, films, theatre, comedy & quiz nights, meetings etc – just send us the details, or contact us to discuss your plans. Some events are confirmed, more info as things are confirmed – full details on Other Events page.

Bookfair finances – the Bookfair costs around £1600 to put on including publicity & various hires. We raise this from stall fees, benefit gigs, and donations. If every vsitor donated £1 at the gate we’d have it all covered and probably some surplus – which we donate out to local groups. Thanks for your support!

Bookfair Collective: We have a new enlarged Bookfair collective, mixing some old faces with some new ones. There’s plenty to do. We welcome ideas, offers of help, linked events, benefit nights, and contacts.

Contact us:

bristolanarchistbookfair@riseup.net for general enquiries, offers of help, and so on.

BristolBF-stalls@riseup.net will be for stalls info and admin.

We hope everyone has a great day and leaves feeling politically motivated & enthused! Thanks for coming.

Bristol Anarchist Bookfair Collective xxx