alt.lib

The First Pride Was a Riot!
2022-07-01 18:00 - 23:00 (America/Vancouver)
An autonomous street party for the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots!
We’ll be there with our mutual aid literature distro!
From the poster, sent to us anonymously:
“Come join us on the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots, for a street event/protest celebrating radical queer joy and honoring the queers, queens, and troublemakers who came before.
Roe v Wade is gone … and we’ll be taking to the streets to rage, rave, and love!”

Atlanta Forest Defense Reportback: STOP COP CITY
2022-07-07 19:00 - 22:00 | Flow Shala, 203 W. Chestnut Street, Bellingham, WA, 98225, United States
Atlanta Forest Defense Reportback: STOP COP CITY!
An evening of film screenings and reportbacks. Discussion with presenters.
This performance will be presented at Creative Hope Studio, 1474 Franklin Street, accessed through the the back door over the bridge. Facemasks must be worn throughout the evening
Doors at 7:00pm
In the wake of the 2020 George Floyd Rebellion, Atlanta-area officials have planned to build the largest police training compound in the country — by bulldozing the largest urban tree canopy in the country! Meanwhile, film-industry executives plan to clear-cut what remains in order to build “the largest soundstage complex on Earth.”
Join us for an in-depth overview and conversation with on-the-ground activists involved in the historic movement to Stop Cop City and Defend The Atlanta Forest.
There will also be videos shown from Videos From the Trash Dimension, with one of the filmmakers in attendance!
Admission by donation supports the presenters!
AltLib is always ALL AGES!
NOTAFLOF!

Marlo Mudd // Gabriel Seaver // Hemlock // Kjetil Lund
2022-07-21 17:00 - 20:00
Outdoor sunset generator show at THE SLAB! Come check out some sonic and scenic beauty with:::
Marlo Mudd (Bellingham, WA) https://marlomudd.bandcamp.com
Gabriel Seaver (Portland, OR)
https://gabrielseaver.bandcamp.com/
Hemlock (Chicago, IL)
https://hemlock.bandcamp.com
Kjetil Lund (Bellingham, WA)
ALL AGES /// NOTAFLOF

Poetry Bazaar!
2022-08-09 19:00 - 21:00 | Flow Shala, 203 W. Chestnut Street, Bellingham, WA, 98225, United States
This performance will be presented at the Flow Shala, located on the lower floor of 203 W. Chestnut Street.
Doors at 7:00pm
Donations support the artists and the AltLib!
An evening showcase of poetry, with readings and performances from Elle Glasse, Siena Clayton, Rye Bennett, Ben Stump, and MORE!
There will also be a popup exhibition of small press books and art from local creators including Micaela Lieseke, Rae Berry, Shrija Gandhi and more!
AltLib is always ALL AGES!
NOTAFLOF

Salish Sea Butoh: International Performance Gala
2022-08-13 19:00 - 22:00
The Salish Sea Butoh Festival proudly presents A LIVE PERFORMANCE GALA with master dance artists from Japan, Germany and New York City at the USO Building on the grounds of Fort Worden State Park.
7:00pm Doors open || 7:30pm SHOWTIME
Tickets are available online via Brown Paper Tickets
Featuring stage performances by:
Katsura Kan from KYOTO, JAPAN
Yuko Kaseki from BERLIN, GERMANY
Jacquelyn Marie Shannon from BROOKLYN, NY
You are cordially invited to join us for a very special theatrical event celebrating the unique artform of Butoh. This is a production of the second-ever Salish Sea Butoh Festival in Port Townsend, Washington. It highlights master artists of the 1st generation of Butoh from Japan along with 2nd and 3rd generation artists from all over the world performing on the same stage. All ticket purchases include admission to a post-show reception with complimentary refreshments and a chance to meet and talk to the artists.
ABOUT BUTOH:
Butoh is an avant-garde dance movement that originated in Tokyo, Japan shortly after WWII. It is characterized by physical movements that tend towards the earth and the subconscious. Butoh, which is influenced by and incorporates elements of Surrealism, Dada, French Existentialism, German Expressionism, Japanese theatre and eastern spiritual thought, was developed in the late 1950’s and 1960’s through experimental collaborations between its founders Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno. Their work established Butoh as disciplined and rigorous, yet spontaneous and idiosyncratic, intellectual and experimental, yet grounded in the human body. Instead of aspiring to an aesthetic ideal, Butoh reveals the primordial human being and the inner world. It implies total presence where dance is an expression of being in the world as well as containing the world within oneself. It grows from such themes such as dreams, ghosts, androgyny, nature, solitude and the natural cycles of life and death.
The Alternative Library will exhibit a curated selection of local and international small-press art books during the event.

Sideshows by the Seashore: Butoh Cabaret
2022-08-14 20:30 - 23:00
Sideshows by the Seashore: BUTOH CABARET Extravaganza
A Marvelous Night of Madness, Magic and Butoh Cabaret
The Cotton Building, 607 Water Street, Port Townsend, WA 98368
8:30pm Doors open || 8:45pm SHOWTIME
Tickets are available in advance via Brown Paper Tickets.
Prepare to be swept away by a wild, whimsical whirlwind of rambunctious dance, theater and Live music of all shapes and sizes at THE COTTON BUILDING in downtown Port Townsend! Featuring over a dozen vignette solo and ensemble performances probing the fantastical dancing FUSION of Butoh-inspired performance art and burlesque entertainment, this night-time blowout is the culmination of the 2nd-ever Salish Sea Butoh Festival in Port Townsend, Washington. We invite you to celebrate with us!
This year, Salish Sea Butoh has assembled a wide array of musicians, magicians, singers, performance artists and dancers, all of whom have been tasked with presenting original stage works that explore BUTOH CABARET through the lens of their own particular aesthetic, discipline and artistic lineage. As a point of artistic reference and inspiration, our show is informed by the radical Japanese choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata who developed Butoh with his ensemble of burlesque dancers in an effort to defy and subvert authority, including conventional notions of dance. This iconoclastic, avant-garde dance form was developed hand-in-glove with the CABARET scene of the Tokyo underground throughout the 1960s. During the day, Hijikata trained his dancers in exercises and techniques that would become Ankoku Butoh. At night, they experimented with bringing their exploration into the competitive marketplace of cabaret & burlesque. According to dance scholar Rosemary Candelario, his shows got a reputation for being a kind of ‘weird, funky cabaret’ in which nudity appeared along with Surrealist and Dadaist images.” Inspired by this historical reference, Salish Sea Butoh challenges artists to explore the theme of FUSION & ALCHEMY by deconstructing and reinventing their particular art form, whatever it might be, and combine elements from the worlds of both cabaret and Butoh. We asked: If the theme is FUSION/ALCHEMY — of the self, of society, of art, of politics — what will it take to bring this about??
THE AUDIENCE TOO is encouraged to come be a part of the experience! Wear your most expressive & outrageous costume/look, and help celebrate the festival’s theme of FUSION/ALCHEMY. An on-site makeover room will stand ready to accessorize willing participants, and we’ll have a photo booth set-up during part of the evening to celebrate!
The Alternative Library will exhibit a curated selection of local and international small-press art books during the event.
==============================================================
ABOUT SALISH SEA BUTOH:
Salish Sea Butoh is a collective of performers and multimedia artists co-founded by Cosmo Rapaport and Iván-Daniel Espinosa in the Pacific Northwest to deepen the study of Japanese Butoh and Butoh performance. Salish Sea Butoh continues to be the only group consistently bringing international Butoh artists to the Olympic Peninsula and producing an annual festival that features both guest artists and local performers.
ABOUT BUTOH:
Butoh, which incorporates elements of Surrealism, Dada, French Existentialism, German Expressionism, Japanese theatre and eastern spiritual thought, was first developed in the late 1950’s through experimental collaborations between its founders Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno. Their work established Butoh as disciplined and rigorous, yet spontaneous and idiosyncratic, intellectual and experimental, yet grounded in the human body. Rather than aspiring to an aesthetic ideal, the dance attempts to expose the joys and sorrows of life, exploring the most fundamental elements of physical and psychological existence. Despite the fairly recent origination of this dance form, it has quickly appealed worldwide and demonstrated that it speaks to something primordial within us.
ABOUT BUTOH CABARET:
As a budding artistic genre, BUTOH CABARET has been most prominently developed and proliferated by two artists from different corners of the globe: Australia-based dancer and choreographer Yumi Umiumare and Mexican artist Diego Piñón. Salish Sea Butoh celebrates the contributions of both of these amazing artists to the emerging field of BUTOH CABARET and draws inspiration from these two and other creative sources as well to further develop, nurture, share and cross-pollinate this dynamic fusion of art forms. Since the late nineties, Yumi Umiumare has been developing her unique style of visceral dance-theater performance and creating original Butoh Cabaret works. Originally born in Hyogo, Japan, Yumi is based in Australia where she has presented the hugely successful and well-received DasSHOKU BUTOH CABARET performance series, renowned for provoking visceral emotions and cultural identities with wild humor. According to Yumi, in the 1950s, Butoh was relegated to street performers and underground nightclubs in Tokyoalmost like a guerrilla dance movementand these performances shocked and provoked. I was trying to bring back the energy and rawness of Butoh by combining it with the accessibility of cabaret; this combination is so unique and exciting.” Separately, a group of artists studying with Mexican artist Diego Piñón launched the CONEY ISLAND Butoh and Beyond Festival in 2016, probing the fantastical dancing partnership of Butoh and cabaret performance on CONEY ISLAND USA’s burlesque stage in NYC. For the next four years, through his artistic intensives and ensemble performances in Brooklyn, Diego Piñón re-branded the festival as ritual cabaret a reflection of the defining aesthetic that resulted from his immersion into the historical and contemporary Coney Island. Cabaret, burlesque, vaudeville and circus sideshow have had a long and storied history in Coney Island, making it a perfect venue to explore the boundaries of ritual & entertainment. Piñón, who hails from the mountain town of Tlalpujahua Michoacán, fuses aesthetic principles stemming from Mexican shamanism, Japanese Butoh and community-based ritual dance.

Print and Poetry Bazaar
2022-10-21 19:00 - 22:00 | Flow Shala, 203 W. Chestnut Street, Bellingham, WA, 98225, United States
Print & Poetry Bazaar: This print and literary art market will be an ongoing series to showcase writers and publishing artists in our community!
Doors at 7:00pm, spoken word and poetry readings start at 8:00pm
Performances, art, and literature from creatives including @comicsandz @soulsticeartandoddities @alex.y.park @elle.ramey.art @luukhoney @therhetorician100 @pronunciacionsumergida @glaurified @mossy.limbs @video_arena_archives @futuretman @hadleysart8
Poster design by Bryn Roth

Print and Poetry Bazaar
2022-12-02 19:00 - 22:00 | Flow Shala, 203 W. Chestnut Street, Bellingham, WA, 98225, United States
Print & Poetry Bazaar: This begins our monthly print and literary art market, popping up every first Friday for downtown Arts Walk to showcase writers and publishing artists in our community!
Doors at 7:00pm, spoken word and poetry readings start at 8:00pm
This event will be hosted at the Flow Shala Studio, located at 203 W Chestnut Street on the lower floor, please contact us in advance for accessibility requests.

Indie Film Bazaar
2023-06-02 20:00 - 22:00
A showcase of independent films from local experimental filmmakers!
$6-12 supports the filmmakers and the AltLib
Doors at 8:00pm
Screenings at 8:30pm
Featuring works from:
Elle Ramey Glasse
Sulai Lopez
Arnold Gallows
Moose Kinsey
Iris Christensen
Oliver Gibbons
There MAY be POPCORN!
ALL AGES
NOTAFLOF

Josephine Foster / Lori Goldston / ini
2023-06-13 19:00 - 22:00
AltLib x Lookout Arts Quarry present a night of unexpected textures and surreal folk poetics hosted at the beautiful Lookout Arts Quarry, located just south of Bellingham, at:
246 Old Hwy 99 N
Bellingham, WA 98229
Advance tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets:
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/6031230
Doors: 7:00pm
Performance: 7:30pm
Lori Goldston is an American cellist and composer. Accomplished in a wide variety of styles, including classical, world music, rock and free improvisation, she has performed with groups including Nirvana, Earth, Clyde Petersen, the Black Cat Orchestra, and Spectratone International, and also performs solo in many contexts.
http://lorigoldston.com/
Josephine Foster is an American singer-songwriter and musician from Colorado. As an adolescent she worked as a funeral and wedding singer, and aspired to become an opera singer. After her studies she began to record demos of her own songs.
http://www.josephinefoster.info/
ini is the folk/grunge songwriting project of Jessi Rado, a Bellingham local, who transplanted from Philadelphia not so long ago. Jessi is a member of the vocal trio Earth Practice.
All Ages!
No Dogs!

Macula Dog / Flesh Produce / Hilarious Combination
2023-06-16 20:00 - 23:00
AltLib x Lookout Arts Quarry present a new vision of pop music of this century at the Lookout Arts Quarry, located just south of Bellingham, at:
246 Old Hwy 99 N
Bellingham, WA 98229
Advance tickets are available HERE!
Doors: 8:00pm
Performances shortly following…
Flesh Produce is a band of people from Seattle, WA.
https://fleshproduce.bandcamp.com/
Macula Dog is an experimental duo from New York City.
https://maculadog.bandcamp.com/
Tim’s Hilarious Combination is an art rock, post-something or other band, playing Tim’s original compositions.
https://timgraffuis.bandcamp.com/
All Ages!
No Dogs!

Hemlock / Lady Queen Paradise / Sunflecks / Marlo Mudd
2023-08-16 19:00 - 22:00
AltLib x Lookout Arts Quarry present a cute evening of song at the Lookout Arts Quarry, located just south of Bellingham, at:
246 Old Hwy 99 N
Bellingham, WA 98229
Wednesday, August 16th
Doors: 7:00pm
Performances shortly following from…
Hemlock (Chicago, IL)
Lady Queen Paradise (Providence, RI)
Sunflecks (Bellingham, WA)
Marlo Mudd (Bellingham, WA)
$10 suggested donation ~ performances will take place at the quarry Beach Stage. Please park in the front lot by the blue warehouse building, and walk down the road to the quarry Beach Stage.
All Ages
No Dogs
NOTAFLOF

Tacoma Anarchist Book Fair
2023-09-22 18:00 - 21:00
Anonymous submission copied from PSA: https://pugetsoundanarchists.org/a-tacoma-anarchist-book-fair/
What: Tacoma Anarchist Book Fair
When: September 22nd, 6pm-9pm
Where: Solidarity Spot, 1220 S 23rd St
Come through for the Gritty City on the Salish Sea’s first Anarchist Book Fair in more than a decade! Friday, September 22 from 6-9 PM, at least dozen tablers will be slinging zines, books, art, and connections to local rad groups at Tacoma’s new Solidarity Spot in Hilltop, 1220 S 23rd St, Tacoma, WA 98405.
Anarchism, that beautiful yearning for the demolition of all authority and domination, has entered the consciousness of many new folks in the last few years. This is a chance to make new connections, perhaps revive old ones, and learn about anarchy together!
We plan to provide childcare and have a vegan meal available during the fair. If you are interested in helping out with those, or have any questions regarding this Tacoma Anarchist Book Fair, contact historicalseditions [at] riseup [dot] net
Accessibility Info: The solidarity spot is unfortunately not fully wheelchair accessible at this time. The front entrance is wide enough for entry and flat, but the bathroom is not ADA accessible and lacks a grab-bar. The outdoor area that will be used weather-permitting includes a flat sidewalk as well as a flat grass yard.
The bathroom at the Solidarity Spot is gender neutral.
We’re asking folks to wear masks to limit the spread of airborne pathogens, with a bonus of normalizing mask-wearing for personal security. They will be provided at the door.

2023 VICTORIA ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR
2023-09-23 11:00 - 2023-09-24 20:00
2023 VICTORIA ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR
September 23 & 24, 2023
Fernwood NRG
1240 Gladstone Ave.
lək̓ʷəŋən Territory
Free Admission / Free Workshops
The 2025 Victoria Anarchist Bookfair is Confirmed!

The Victoria Anarchist Bookfair is a space to network, highlight, and aid struggles, both local and international. We strive to promote anarchist ideas through workshops, cultural activities and the bookfair itself. We have a spirit of openness towards different anarchist traditions, visions, and practices.
Our aims are threefold:
– to introduce anarchism to the public,
– to further elaborate upon current and historical anarchist ideals, and
– to foster dialogue between various anarchist tendencies.

TROPISM
2024-05-25 - 2024-05-26
Tropism – noun /trō′pĭz″əm/ 1. The turning or bending movement of an organism or a part of an organism in a particular direction in response to an external stimulus such as light or gravity.
A weekend campout of intimate live performances, workshops, collaborative art projects, film screenings, studio tours, and independent book and record fair. Beautiful forested campsites and private lake for swimming. Turn toward the sun with us.
TROPISM will feature free public hours from 12noon-5pm on both Saturday and Sunday, with an independent publisher’s fair, and open studios with some of the artists who work year round from the Lookout Arts Quarry!
More info: https://www.tropism.xyz/

Seattle Punk Rock Flea Market
2024-09-20 15:00 - 2024-09-22 18:00
The AltLib will be partnering with Neoglyphic Media with a popup booth at the Seattle Punk Rock Flea Market.
For more information, see their event website:
https://www.punkrockfleamarketseattle.com/

International Day of Peace
2025-09-21 15:00 - 19:00 | Structures Brewing, 601 W. Holly St., Bellingham, WA, WA, 98225, United States
The Alternative Library will be popping up with a table full of zines and books from our studio during the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center’s International Day of Peace event:
Sunday, September 21st @ 3 pm
Structures Brewing, 601 W. Holly St.
Whatcom Peace and Justice Center is excited to announce the 2025 International Day of Peace! Recognized by the United Nations since 1982 and the City of Bellingham since 2017, this is a community-focused day of celebration that offers space to support our work in uplifting local organizers and connecting to global movements against violence and oppression.
International Day of Peace is WPJC’s main fundraising and educational event of the year, raising critical funds to support the ever more vital work of the Center in advocating for peace and against wars at home and abroad.
​This year, we’re celebrating with the theme: “We Keep Us Safe: Fostering a Culture of Care”. We believe that fostering a culture of care means creating spaces where people are seen, heard, and supported, especially those most affected by injustice.

TAKAAT in Bellingham
2025-10-13 19:00 - 21:00
Our annual Fall renegade show is here, and this time we’re excited to present the Saharan desert rock band, TAKAAT!
This show will be held at a public outdoor location, which will be announced with an e-mail to ticket holders on the day before the show!
Tickets available via Brown Paper Tickets:
https://takaatbellingham.brownpapertickets.com/
TAKAAT (pronounced tuh-cot), meaning “noise” in the Tuareg language Tamashek, is the trio of Ahmoudou Madassane, Mikey Coltun, and Souleymane Ibrahim, also known as the rhythm section of Mdou Moctar. TAKAAT is sonic chaos, improvisation, freedom of exploration, and the punk styles of bands such as Fugazi and Unwound, all mixed together with the guitar music from the Sahel.
TAKAAT started during soundchecks while on the road with Mdou Moctar when the trio indulged their shared love for amps cranked to 11 and the sound of blown out speakers. Towards the end of 2023, the three started writing music together, inspired by their shared experiences with the sounds and energy of Hausa bar bands, gritty soukous, and 2000s post-punk. The music of TAKAAT is intense, dark, and energetic. Deeply inspired by the DIY ethos of punk, Ahmoudou, Mikey, and Souleymane capture that thrill of the new and the ecstasy of togetherness in these heavy rockers. TAKAAT follows in the spirit of the independent music culture that birthed hardcore basement shows, bedroom tape labels, and generator-powered pick-up wedding bands.
TAKAAT is noise!
https://purplishrecords.bandcamp.com/album/takaat-is-noise-vol-1
We’re happy to be joined by the fantastic local guitarist, John Swanke, who will perform an opening set:
https://johnswanke.bandcamp.com/

Author Talk with Former Political Prisoner Eric King
2025-10-17 19:00 - 20:30
Date: October 17th
Time: 7PM
Location: Duck & Cover (2123 New Street Bellingham 98225)
Eric King comes to Bellingham to present his forthcoming book “A Clean Hell: Anarchy and Abolition in America’s Most Notorious Dungeon” (PM Press).
Eric King is an anarchist who was imprisoned in 2014 for acts of solidarity with the Ferguson, Missouri, uprising. While in federal custody Eric was indicted for a self-defense incident at FCI-Florence. Eric took it to trial and is one of the absolute few people to ever win at Federal Trial. After his victory Eric was sent to the Federal Supermax, ADX, where he spent most of his final two years of his prison bid. During his time in prison Eric coedited the political prisoner anthology Rattling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American Political Prisoners. Eric survived years of documented physical and psychological torture and made it out of prison with heart and soul intact.
A Clean Hell is a searing firsthand account from inside the most repressive prison in the United States, a place built not for rehabilitation but for disappearance.
The federal supermax ADX Florence is the most secure facility in the United States, a dungeon of isolation, sensory deprivation, and psychological disintegration. Here, cruelty isn’t accidental; it’s the design. Built in 1995, the “Alcatraz of the Rockies” was made to cage the so-called worst of the worst: bombers, gang leaders, political enemies, and anyone the government deems too rebellious, too inconvenient, or too visible.
Among them was antifascist prisoner Eric King, targeted for his politics, brutally tortured by the Bureau of Prisons, and ultimately entombed at ADX after beating a politically motivated federal prosecution. A Clean Hell tells the story of Eric’s decade behind bars: the years of surveillance and retaliation, the years locked in solitary confinement, the reality of being known as a “race traitor,” and the daily acts of resistance that kept him—and others—alive.
More than just a firsthand survival story and exposé, this is a blistering indictment of the carceral state and the sanitized violence it tries to hide. A Clean Hell is a crucial document of solidarity and struggle inside the belly of the beast and required reading for anyone concerned with mass incarceration, political repression, or the inhumane architecture of the US prison system.

Seattle Anarchist Book Fair
2025-10-18 11:00 - 2025-10-19 17:00 | The VERA Project, 305 Harrison St., Seattle, WA, 98109, United States
Anarchy! Books! Zines! Mark Your Calendars For The 2025 Seattle Anarchist Bookfair!
October 18th & 19th, 11am – 5pm
The VERA Project, at the corner of Warren and Republican.
The Seattle Anarchist Bookfair bursts back into the scene, brimming with brilliance and boundless possibilities!
After two amazing years of post-COVID bookfairs, we are excited to welcome you back to the VERA this fall for a weekend of workshops, encounters, arguments, meet-cutes, dialogues, diatribes, books and literature including anarchist theory, historical heresies, activist anthologies, and fictional fables. We hope to gather the anarchist publishers and zinesters you know and love as well as new emerging distros and projects from the PNW and beyond.
Whether you’re a seasoned subversive or a budding beacon of rebellion, this book bonanza beckons to all: the Seattle Anarchist Book Fair is an opportunity for old friends to come together, for new connections be made, and for those new to anarchy to have an opportunity to engage with the many and varied perspectives of what is called the Beautiful Idea. Discover new perspectives, defy dogma, and fuel your fiery fervor for freedom. Entry is always free. Childcare provided while you peruse.
If you are interested in volunteering your time or resources for the event, reach out to us at seattlebookfair at riseup dot net. More info as the event draws closer. See you there!
https://seattleanarchistbookfair.noblogs.org/
