Cora Thomas has a long history of self-publishing. She started writing novels back in 2012, when she was pursuing an undergraduate degree in educational psychology at the University of Victoria. “Before that,” she said, “I’d been writing fanfiction — terrible, terrible things. They’re awful and no one needs to read them, ever.” But she was proud of her first novel, more or less.
“It’s not incredible, but I have it for sale online, available, and that was the decision I made.” She might not have been sure at first, but after that, she couldn’t stop writing. Now, she’s published four novels and around a dozen zines. She also runs the Vanwest Anarchist Bookfair, where she and other writers sell their work in the Nest’s Atrium every six months. The most recent fair took place on March 19 and 20.
The bookfair (previously titled the Vancouver Anarchist Bookfair) is an indirect offshoot of the long-running Victoria Anarchist Bookfair, which Thomas helped organize when she still lived on the island. At the time, she would spend all the time she could at the bookfair and at Camas Books & Infoshop, an anarchist bookstore in Victoria.
“I was really banging down their doors as much as possible because it was a good place for me — a weirdo — to be a weirdo,” said Thomas. “It got me exposed to a lot of different voices.”
When she moved to Vancouver in 2021, she missed that space. The city didn’t have a regular anarchist bookfair at the time — Thomas said there used to be one, but “it went the way of all good anarchist events, which is that too many anarchists got involved in running it, and then they fought until it stopped existing.” Despite already balancing a master’s in gender studies, Indigenous studies, and land and food studies with a job as advertising and sponsorship coordinator at the campus radio station (CiTR), Thomas decided to fix that.
Initially, CiTR helped her book the Atrium and get the word out about the fair. That first spring, they had around 12 vendors on the first day and eight on the second. Since then, the fair has been growing steadily with each biannual event. Thomas is proud that a community is already starting to develop around the fair — she does her part to encourage it by prioritizing returning vendors and making sure everyone involved understands it’s their job to take care of their neighbours.
Though the bookfair is still on the smaller side, Thomas said she started to feel the growing pains this year. She booked 30 vendors and maxed out the bookfair’s capacity for the first time. “We’re catching up in size [to the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair] pretty quick,” she said. Thomas is already thinking about expanding the fair for the fall by booking the upper ground floor or the plaza outside the Nest. She doesn’t like having to turn people away — it’s accessibility, more than strict adherence to classical anarchist thought, that really animates her work with the bookfair.
“Politically speaking,” she said, “I’m not an anarchist. It’s not a system of governance that I think is a good solution.” Thomas sees her version of anarchism as “an expression of supreme dissatisfaction with the political system as it currently is.” The Vanwest Anarchist Bookfair, for her, is “a way for us to conceptualize different ways for the world to be.” Her top priority is to offer space for diverse, marginalized people to sell their wares and share their voices.
You could see that in the fair’s offerings. They weren’t just books, nor were they explicitly anarchist, for the most part — vendors sold stickers, pottery, stuffed animals and crafts alongside the more traditional fare of self-published pamphlets and zines. Highlights included Tahltan comic artist Cole Pauls, independent zine publisher Worm Mash Magazine and independent printers Dumpster Fire Distro, who boasted an impressive selection of leftist literature.
Thomas said her attraction to a utopian vision of the future comes, in part, from her family’s history of displacement. Thomas is Cree, and her family’s ancestral homeland is on the land where Jasper National Park is now located. She and her family can’t go home — imagining a better future must take a different shape. That’s what she does with her books, and it’s the driving force behind the bookfair.
Thomas has high hopes for booking more space this fall — she said the AMS is very supportive of the event. With the help of her girlfriend, she also recently set up an Instagram account for the fair, and she’s working on outreach to places that rent tents and tables, hoping they can make some kind of deal for cheaper or free rentals.
“I'm not afraid to sell out if it means I can get more marginalized voices heard. My ethic has little to do with my own pride and has everything to do with making sure we have as many voices available as possible.”
