Talks – Manchester & Salford Anarchist Bookfair 2025

Workshops in the Learning Zone (downstairs)

11am – 12ish

Wild & Wellbeing – Experiments in reconnection with more-than-human nature

We will go outside together for nature reconnection using cards from the Wild and Wellbeing Card Deck (bring your coat).

Nes is a Eco-psychotherapist and member of the Climate Psychology Alliance, and works with people recovering from trauma, activist burnout and eco-anxiety. This session, however, will focus on reconnecting with more than human to spend time with the abundant world to help restore belonging and a reminder of what we’re fighting for, with creativity, making, imagination and mindfulness. Folks of all ages welcome.

12noon – 1pm

Solidarity not Charity – Bad Apple Zine

This workshop moves beyond a binary framing of solidarity and charity, taking a deeper look at the tensions and complex power dynamics of migrant solidarity organising. It will discuss how the framing of solidarity and charity as opposites can work to romanticise real and culturally diverse systems and practices that can be problematic as well as radical, and cut us off from resources and radical comrades in the charity sector. The workshop is based on militant research within an anarchist shelter for migrants and refugees with no recourse to public funds.

1:30pm – 2:30pm

Eclipse 2029: Obscuring the far-right with anti-authoritarian action

M & S from the Eclipse Committee will talk about Eclipse 2029, a project that aims to obscure the rise of the new fascism, using anarchist and anti-authoritarian values and methods. We intend to win, rather than to merely carry out hopeless resistance. To do that, we believe that individuals and collectives – both established and new – need to find ways to work together, finding political unity where appropriate, and tactical unity where needed.

Part of this involves a general reclaiming of space by anarchists, a reinvigoration of our involvement in May Day, skills training, and a series of annual convergences, the first of which will take place in January 2026, marked by an eclipse visible from the UK. The short-term goal is to build a movement powerful enough to eclipse the 2029 general elections, but then we can go from there!

Workshops in the Coal Store (upstairs)

11am – 12pm

Hacking the reactionary impulse – a workshop

An anarcha-feminist workshop on developing more collectivist responses to reactionary tendencies within our organising.

This workshop will be a space for all to discuss experiences of reactionary behaviours within our leftist movements that affect our ability to achieve our goals and quash our faith in a better future. We will (compassionately) cover the trauma mechanisms that may feed into these responses.

There will be a facilitated reflective discussion for mutual learning and sharing practical tools for understanding and dealing with reactionary responses – within ourselves and our movements.

Hosted by Opuntia, a nascent anarcha-feminist collective in Manchester.

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Opuntia – Anarcha-Feminist Collective

We are a nascent autonomous collective of anarchists in Manchester who are affected by patriarchal misogyny and want to do something about it.

Right here, right now, with what we have – and growing our power by coming together.

12:30pm – 1:30pm

Remembering Colin Ward – Ruth Kinna & Alicia Pivaro

This session is one of several small acts of anarchy prompted by the centenary of Colin Ward’s birth in 1924. We want to talk about his contributions to anarchism, exchange ideas about putting anarchy into action and talk about future events. Ruth Kinna will provide an introduction, and Alicia Pivaro will be on hand to talk about the multidisciplinary group loosely organised to keep Colin’s legacy alive.

2:30pm – 3:30pm

A Vulnerable Look at American Prison Resistance with Eric King

Eric King is a US anarchist who served around 10 years in Federal prison after a failed molotov attack on a politician’s office in the aftermath of the Ferguson Rebellion. As a result of his continuing activism inside prison, much of this time was spent in solitary confinement, and eventually the highest-security Supermax Florence facility. He is the co-editor of the collection Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners and author of the new book A Clean Hell: Anarchy and Abolition in America’s Most Notorious Dungeon. In this session, he will offer an honest and vulnerable look at his experiences inside prison and the lasting consequences of his defiance.

For more information on hosting a talk please email manchester@bookfair.org.uk

Follow the links below for details of talks at previous bookfairs