Small Press Extravaganza!

The third annual Buffalo Small Press Book Fair returns this Saturday with its usual assortment of unusual missals, proffering everything from handmade artist’s books to comics, micropress poetry to zines. This year promises to be a refreshing one, with more than 70 vendors, including a healthy dose of locals as well as a smattering of work from around the Northeast, including New York City, Baltimore, Toronto, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

Last year's Buffalo Small Press Book Fair at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum.

In three short years, the book fair has become an integral part of the Buffalo literary community, a hallmark of spring, a reunion for expatriates, an impetus for cultural production, a networking must, and a symbol of the city’s artistic vitality. An often chilly weekend provides the backdrop for the exchange of warm words, warm hugs, and the tacit camaraderie of perseverant marginalized artists. Authorship and artistry may often be solitary pursuits, but for a few short days in March, the book fair serves as a reminder to authors and artists that they aren’t alone.

The fair has been restructured this year to incorporate free skill-building workshops in bookbinding, screenprinting, and zine making. Basic bookbinding techniques will be taught by Rich Kegler, local book artist, owner of P22 type foundry, and head of the Western New York Book Arts Center. Stencil silkscreening and photo emulsion techniques will be demonstrated by local commercial screenprinter Courtney Brent, and Rochester artist Peter Lazarski will lecture on zine culture, distribution, and construction. All of the workshops will be hands-on, and they are free and open to the public.

In previous years, poetry and fiction readings have been held concurrent with the fair, but because of the new workshops, the readings have been pushed to Friday night’s Small Press Poetry Fest. Organized by Mike Kelleher, AaronLowinger, and Steven Zultanski, the Poetry Fest will include readings by more than 30 authors divided by press, and they will be capped off by this year’s featured reader, acclaimed New York City poet Anselm Berrigan.

The fair and the Poetry Fest are the perfect opportunity to overdose on the written (and spoken) word, jumpstart your artistic batteries, or pick up a few inspired curiosities. If this year is anything like the last two, the joy will be palpable, the work will run the gamut from edgy to traditional, and you’ll leave feeling good about Buffalo.

The Buffalo Small Press Book Fair takes place Saturday, March 21, noon-6pm, at the beautiful Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum (453 Porter Avenue). The Small Press Poetry Fest takes place from Friday, March 20, 7pm-midnight, at the fantastic new Sugar City collaborative art space at 19 Wadsworth Avenue. See www.buffalosmallpress.org for details.

—christopher britton