Portland Radical Bookfair - an opportunity for building connections.

the bookfair?

the Book Fair? Please give us a little more info than this.

I think it's at Liberty Hall.

The Portland Radical Book Fair
@Sun Nov 19
@2 pm - 7pm
@Liberty Hall 311 N. Ivy Portland
@Info: IWW 503.231.5448

Come and show support for Portland's Lauging Horse Bookstore, In Other Words, Black Rose Bookstore and others.

Music by General Strike and The Joe Hilbillies

PORTLAND RADICAL BOOK FAIR & 17TH ANNUAL JOE HILL NIGHT

DATE: Sunday, November 19th
TIME: Book fair 2PM, Joe Hill Night 7PM
WHERE: Liberty Hall, 311 N Ivy, Portland
(One block South of N. Fremont, 2 Blocks West of Vancouver)
COST: Suggested donation of $3-$10. No one will be turned away

FIRST ANNUAL PORTLAND RADICAL BOOK FAIR

The first in what is planned as an annual event, the Portland Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is hosting a Radical Book fair. We're expecting over 20 New and Used Booksellers, Publishers and political organizations to participate, including:

Laughing Horse, Microcosm Press, Black Rose Collective,Great NW Books, St. John's Booksellers, In Other Words, Stumptown Printers, Charles H. Kerr Publishers, Talking Drum Bookstore, Rethinking Schools, the IWW, Portland Central American Solidarity Committee, the Portland Surrealist Group, Red Flag Press, and more!

All donations collected will be used to help establish the Glaberman Memorial Library. Consisting of over 5000 books, pamphlets and papers, the Glaberman Library is the US' largest independent Labor Library. Now in storage, the Glaberman Library will be soon be a first class resource for activists in Portland.

Portland Books for Prisoners will be collecting book donations at the Book Fair. For more information on their good work visit their website:
 http://www.bookstooregonprisoners.org

JOE HILL NIGHT

A Portland tradition since 1990, Joe Hill Night celebrates the world famous IWW organizer and songwriter. Hill, well known for his many famous labor songs, was organizing Miners in Utah when bosses had him framed for murder. He was executed by firing squad on November 19, 1915. His last message to us was: "Don't waste time mourning, ORGANIZE!"

Local Bands, "General Strike" and "The Joe Hillbillies" will perform rabble-rousing songs interspersed with dramatic readings of action inspiring stories of Joe Hill and the IWW.

Made up of members from several local unions, "General Strike" has brought songs to picket lines and labor rallies in the Portland area since 1987. "The Joe Hillbillies" include IWW members and professional musicians Tim Acott and Claire Bard.

Why isn't this being more heavily publisized? I've only recently come to town and I only know about this because a friend is going to have a booth there. There's a flyer out now, a little over a week before the event. C'mon, Portland! You can do better than this!

I think that this Book Fair is a great idea and I look forward to attending. I do hope that in the future, some thought might be given to offering a more multicultural presentation. Did any of the sponsors or Fair vendors send out press releases or announcements to any Spanish language radio or print press outlets? Will there be an equal number of offerings and presentations in languages other than English? If not, why not? If so, great!

Le Pew writes that this Fair presents us with "an opportunity to begin creating a solid, radical community...Come out and bring your visions... "

My guess is that I will be one of the few people of color in attendance and that the faces of the vendors seated at their booths will overwhelmingly be white faces. A solid community is one in which events of this kind reflect a cultural myriad of radical visions. One can only live the skin that they're in.

As far as publicity for the event, I got word a couple of weeks ago from some fellow activists. I also think I remember reading a blurb about the Fair in either Just Out or the Portland Alliance (?) I picked up a handful of flyers that were available at an organizing meeting last week and have distributed them.

And Le Pew, as for your publicizing this on this publishing wire, it *would* be helpful if you had actually provided a date, time and location for the event...Teasing you...Sorry. :-)

Please don't interpret my observation given here as hostile. Look forward to seeing you there!

I think one of the issues around the "lack" of PR is based in what Le Pew said above, the "movement" in Portland has fractured a great deal in recent years. We don't talk, meet, intersect as we did during the 2000-2002. That weakness was one of the reasons we had for initiating the Book Fair. Those of us who started it have reached out with the contacts we had.

If you have suggestions for how to do things better, please go ahead. Better yet, join in and help form a broad-based group to organize a bigger/better festival next year.