Derry’s first ever Radical Bookfair was held in over the Bloody Sunday week of events on Saturday 28th January 2017 in Pilots Row Community Centre. It’s estimated that several hundred people passed through the doors of the Rossville Street venue to explore what the days events had to offer as well as to rummage through the different book stalls to catch a bargin or two.
A spokesperson for the Radical Bookfair Collective stated: “The day itself was a brilliant success judging by the numbers it attracted as the Pilots Row Centre had a steady flow of the interested and the curious alike who explored what the all the various stalls had to offer. There really was a fantastic mixed of books and independent publications for every type of interest from books relating to political theories such as titles on socialism to republicanism, feminism to anarchism, queer or gender politics right through to a wide range of both local and national social and political history.
“Chatting to the different stall holders during the days events, everyone had enjoyed the experience, as well as the networking and of course the trade itself. It has been estimated that throughout the day’s events several hundred book lovers had past through the building to take in the variety of stalls as well as to engage with the different talks that was created around recent book titles. Again this was a great benefit to all the different independent book sellers and publishers on the day both locally and nationally, not to mention all the participants who came from far away as Scotland and England.
“It was really great to see a number of local authors in attendance, taking time to engage with the those attending, signing their books such as Emmet O’Connor and Dave Duggan as it really shows that what we have created here today is something worth continuing.
“The people here today from Derry, Donegal and Tyrone really love their books as well as their politics and supporting independent booksellers, that is something we feel has to be encouraged. For those who came up to us throughout the day and requested that the event be a prominent fixture on the city’s calendar, we would have to say, watch this space.”
Revolution in Rojava: Democratic Autonomy and Women’s Liberation in the Syrian Kurdistan
Following on from volume 1 on new unionism and old (1889 – 1906), Dr. Emmet O’Connor volume 2 reviews the impact of Larkinism and syndicalism on Derry. After impressive progress in the 19th century, Derry’s industrial growth started to falter after 1904. Wages stagnated, prices rose relentlessly, and thousands of workers in the shirt-factories and on the docks grew restless. The city seemed ripe for one of the Larkinite revolts that shook Irish cities in the early 20th century, from Belfast in 1907 to Dublin in 1913. However, unions in Derry and local Labour leaders like James McCarron had their own agenda.
