As readers of this blog surely know, there's a lot going on this month, poetrywise. I'm among the folks who find this exhiliarating, instead of somehow annoying or overwhelming. The bursting forth of poems in every nook and cranny of the internet (and bookstores, libraries, classrooms, radio) smashes through the last of my winter slumpiness as effectively as the first bright smears of forsythia when they pop. Come on, yellow! I need you.
One of the things I'm most looking foward to this month is the Buffalo Small Press Book Fair. Smaller than the AWP Bookfair (in a good way) and more DIY- and book-arts-focused than many regional literary fairs, the BSPBF is a dreamy way to spend a weekend if you're a poet, book artist, or collector of the works of either. Last year was my first visit, and I've already decided I'll keep going as long as the Fair keeps happening. More than 100 small presses and book artists, free workshops, a documentary screening, readings, all for free? Absolutely I'll drive six hours to reach that.
I interviewed (the very busy) Christopher Fritton, organizer of the BSPBF and Studio Director of the Western New York Book Arts Center, for a little context about this year's fair.
Last year's opening night reception at the Western New York Book Arts Center
included catering by local publisher & chef Geoffrey Gatza. Artwork by Chris Fritton.
Shanna Compton: The BSPBF is in its eighth year, which means the first Fair was in 2007, right? What was that first year like, compared to its size and scope now? Did the idea for the book fair come together spontaneously at that time, or was it something you'd been thinking about for a while?
Christopher Fritton: The first BSPBF was in March of 2007; the very first year we had 65 vendors from around the Great Lakes region, and there were 600–800 attendees. Since that time, the Fair has grown into a national event with participants from all over the Northeast, Midwest, Great Lakes, Midcoast, and Southern Ontario, and Quebec. In 2013, the Fair boasted 127 vendors and about 4,500 attendees over two days. The Fair was originally one day, but its growth really required that we expand its scope.
I’d been doing zine and book fairs in NYC and Toronto since the late 90s. When I moved back to Buffalo in 2005 after being at the University of Maine at Orono, I got together with my friend Kevin Thurston, and we began roughing out the plans for doing a similar event in Buffalo. I’d always thought it was strange that we didn’t have a large-scale literary event in Buffalo, because we have such a rich literary history. Our city is steeped in DIY culture as well, so to focus on small press and handmade artist’s books seemed to be the way to go. I’d had the idea since around 2003. Kevin stayed on as an organizer for a couple years before moving to Baltimore, so now it’s a one-man show.
SC: One of things I really love about the BSPBF is that it's free to attend (and cheap to vend). For the last two years, you've been using Kickstarter to cover operational costs, relying on support from your local and small press communities. How has that been working out? Does the BSPBF apply for or receive public arts funding?
CF: It’s important to me that the Fair remains inclusive, uncensored, and affordable. It’s fundamental to the spirit of the Fair that it shouldn’t, and won’t, become an elitist and exclusive event. I know Buffalo too well. I know our economy. When I made things affordable the very first year, and kept them affordable, there was a reason — because people wouldn’t vend if tables cost too much, and people wouldn’t attend if I had to charge admission. That’s the way of the world in an economically disadvantaged Rust Belt city. Instead of bemoaning it, I embraced the community’s mutual plight, and decided to vow to always keep the Fair free to attend and affordable to vend. Kickstarter is the perfect tool to help facilitate that. It offsets logistical costs like tables and chairs, etc., but we do receive some funding from the New York State Council on the Arts as well. The BSPBF is considered a “sponsored event” — meaning the Western New York Book Arts Center applies for the grant, and the money is passed through to us. We can only use it for very specific things: promotions and marketing, workshops, and paying visiting artists and travel fees. None of the money can be used for administrative or logistical costs. In addition to Kickstarter and NYSCA, we rely heavily on local businesses to sponsor and promote the event, which amounts to purchasing online and print advertising from us.
SC: The space in the Karpeles Manuscript Library is beautiful and there's even a little room left to grow, as the fair continues to expand. How did you find the location? Can you say a bit about the history of the building?
CF: Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum is an amazingly underutilized resource here in Buffalo. There are a number of Karpeles Museums all around the globe, all of which feature rotating exhibits of manuscripts from the private collection of David and Marsha Karpeles. The very first year, I was searching for venues, and thought our missions might align. I spoke to the Director, Chris Kelly, and he was very happy to accommodate us. We bring more people to Karpeles in a single day than visit the museum all year — so it has the ancillary benefit of promoting their space to a very targeted audience as well. The building at Porter Hall is beautiful; it began as a Methodist church that was built between 1908–1911. The congregation dissolved around 1968, then the building lay dormant for some time. Renovations began in 1995, and continue to this day. Believe it or not, we have two Karpeles Museums here in Buffalo — another is right down the street, and it’s called North Hall.
Readers browse small press tables under a beautiful domed ceiling and stained glass windows.
SC: I'm excited to see small press friends from Dusie and Nous-Zot attending the Fair for the first time this year. Last year I met David McNamara from Buffalo-based Sunnyoutside, got to hang out with the Jen Tynes and Michael Sikkema of Horse Less and Shirt Pocket (Grand Rapids, Michigan), Jenn and Chris McCreary of Ixnay (Philadelphia, PA), mIEKAL aND of Xeoxial (West Lima, WI), and Ted Pelton from Starcherone (Buffalo), but just barely missed meeting Adam Robinson of Publishing Genius (Baltimore, MD) because we were both too busy at our tables. Do you have any favorites, or are there presses who have been attending every year since the first BSPBF?
CF: We have so many presses that have been with us since the very beginning: BlazeVOX Books, Starcherone, SUNY at Buffalo’s Poetry Collection, and quite a few others. They form the core of the Fair. But my favorites are always the newbies. I love to see new work from new places, so when we get a press or artist who’s never come to the Fair before, or they’re from some distant city, it’s exciting to see what they’re going to bring along. And it’s also really exciting to be able to show them what a cool place Buffalo is — I act as an emissary most of the time for all of the out-of-town visitors.
A view of Buffalo (and Lake Erie beyond) from our hotel, with a one-of-a-kind handwritten
chapbook by Michael Sikkema of Shirt Pocket Press.
SC: There's been a lot of talk this year surrounding the woes and wonders of the now-behemoth AWP Book Fair, which was complicated by sales tax issues and an awkwardly divided layout this time around. Many of the small press vendors have been wondering aloud about smaller and more affordable regional alternatives, and a few different groups have been discussing founding new book fairs. I've been to dozens of book fairs over the last decade or so, both as a vendor and a visitor, and I think BSPBF is an excellent model — emphasizing readers, writers, book artists, DIY methods, small and even tiny presses. I'd love to see people in other parts of the country follow this lead. Any advice or cautions for folks thinking of starting their own community-based book fair?
CF: I really believe that each of the book fairs has its own place in the grand scheme of things — even art book fairs that are very exclusive, very academic, or very expensive. They serve a certain demographic, and they give certain artists opportunities within that ecosphere. But I feel it’s really important to set up a Fair that coincides with your values, and what you sense your community’s values to be — the Buffalo Small Press Book Fair is what it is because it grew out of a Buffalo ethos: one where a town of blue-collar scholars disdains pretense, and one where doing it yourself and doing it on the cheap, is lauded, not derided. I do have one bit of advice though: avoid what I refer to as the Galapagos syndrome. A million tiny islands developing independently of one another, but situated within a stone’s throw. If someone locally creates a Book Fair, and you don’t like it, I don’t know if the answer is always to create your own. I think the answer is to voice concerns and come to consensus about the spirit of the Fair, and what its role should be. Otherwise, you run the risk of total atomization — you will dilute the vendor pool, you will dilute the crowd, and at the end of the day, you’ll have ten unsuccessful Fairs throughout the year run by different people, instead of one or two that are highly successful.
And finally, be inclusive! That’s how Fairs can affect people’s lives. I seat the 18-year-old zinester next to the 65-year-old fine press printer all the time, imagining that after two days sitting next to one another for 12 hours, they’ll start talking. And they’ll find out they’re not so different, and they may even like each other’s work.
SC: I like that advice (and the lovely folks I sat next to last year). Thanks, Chris. See you Friday.
When: Thursday–Sunday, April 3–6. The book fair is Saturday and Sunday, with related events the other days. Here's the full schedule.
Good to know: Amy's Place, a diner for everyone (yeah, vegan options). Last year they parked a food truck outside the book fair, and we also hit the restaurant on our way out of town for a breakfast wrap so big we had to take half to go. Rust Belt Books. Sweet_ness 7 (where Chris and I will both be reading Saturday night). A trip to Buffalo is also a great excuse to visit Niagara Falls, about 20 minutes north. (Just don't leave your driver's license in the car if you cross the bridge into Canada, like I did last year. The border guards were not amused that I couldn't remember all 47 of my previous addresses.)
Not close enough to Buffalo to get there this weekend? How about NYC? The NYC/CUNY Chapbook Festival takes place this week too, including a free book fair on Thursday. (I'll be there for Bloof, so come say hi.) And there's also Poetics at Pratt on Friday and Saturday, cosponsored by the Belladonna Collective.
Or browse the small pressses' catalogs online: Buffalo vendors, CUNY vendors.
Shanna Compton's books include Brink (2013), For Girls & Others (2007), Down Spooky (2005), and several chapbooks, as well a collection of essays on the topic of video games, Gamers (2004). A book-length speculative poem called The Seam is forthcoming in 2014. She's the founder of the Bloof Books collective and works as a freelance writer, editor, and book designer.