Radical Reads at the Haymarket Book Fair

The hum of conversation mixed with the rustle of turning pages as fall sunlight streamed into Haymarket Books’ North Side warehouse backyard Oct. 11. The scent of coffee and fallen leaves drifted through the air as visitors thumbed through the stacks of secondhand titles — among them copies on abolition, labor, queer identity and liberation.

The Radical Book Fair, hosted twice a year by Haymarket Books, invited Chicagoans to dig through discounted titles while rediscovering what community and resistance can look like. 

For Casey O’Gardy, Haymarket’s event and programming coordinator, the fair isn’t just a literary event but an act of collective care.

“Radical literature plays a huge role in sustaining activism,” O’Gardy said. “A lot of books are really the foundation to activism and organizing history, especially when you can have a reading group or organize around a specific title. Anything that gets people thinking about issues they haven’t before helps them respond effectively to what’s going on in their communities.”

Founded in Chicago, Haymarket is a leftist nonprofit publisher guided by one mission — books to change the world, according to O’Gardy.

Haymarket’s efforts span poetry, history, queer studies and racial justice with initiatives like Books Not Bars through which they send free titles to incarcerated people who write in requesting materials on abolition or social theory. 

Among the event’s browsers was Lauren Murphy, a public school teacher from Buena Park who said she arrived looking for a sense of grounding. 

“I really love the treasures you can find at a used book venue,” Murphy said. “We’re going through such a tumultuous time, and for me, solace comes from books — from people who’ve also experienced similar situations.”

The Uptown resident said she hoped to find guiding literature to help her navigate the challenges of teaching and community work during an uncertain times in Chicago’s history. To Murphy, the term radical doesn’t mean extreme, rather rooted in empathy.

“Radical is preserving community and helping your people despite the systems that are designed against it,” Murphy said. “It sucks that basic support of your community seems like a radical idea.”

That sense of belonging drew Kara Rodriguez, a frequent attendee at Haymarket events, back to the space. 

“It’s kind of just a radical grocery store but the food is books,” Rodriguez said. “It’s cool to see what other people are grabbing. It’s kind of fun to have little exchanges and know there are people in your neighborhood who care about the same things I do.” 

Rodriguez said the fair creates an entry point for people who might not already consider themselves activists or academics. 

“This is a good touchpoint,” Rodriguez said. “If you’re not too engaged in movement stuff, this is one way to start thinking about those things or engaging with them.” 

Michelle Armantos, a lifelong Chicagoan visiting from Palatine, Ill., said she’s been reading more lately and was drawn to the fair’s atmosphere of openness. 

“It’s more about opening your mind to possibility,” Armantos said. “Didn’t the creator give us a mind to stretch and be the best we can be? Don’t be full of contempt. Investigate. Be open.” 

Armantos said books are bridges, not barriers. To her, what some call radical is just another way of saying “curious enough to listen.” 

Elizia Ratis attended the fair with her elementary-aged daughter and said it’s important for her to stay connected with Haymarket because they offer different venues of thought. Living on the North Side, Ratis said she tries to expose her daughter to different forms of media to inform her perspectives.

Ratis said the fair offered an affordable way to explore authors she wouldn’t normally encounter in mainstream bookstores. The mother discovered a children’s book, “Prisons Must Fall” by abolitionist Mariame Kaba — one whose art she said resonated with her family’s everyday life. 

“The design in it is actually from an artist that has a mural in Rogers Park close to our apartment,” Ratis said. “These are things you’ve already seen that then kind of helped tell the story that is ultimately logical, that prisons are ultimately a force of evil in a lot of ways, without being so oppressive language-wise.”

“Prisons Must Fall” is published through Haymarket publishing. The visual choices behind Haymarket’s work don’t just decorate the radical message — they invite dialogue. 

O’Grady said Haymarket’s team thinks carefully about how book jacket design can welcome readers into complex conversations.

“Having things that are visually interesting or inviting helps people engage even if they’re not familiar with a concept,” O’Grady said. “What makes art or literature radical is when it challenges or asserts something beyond critique — when it feels necessary, when it offers a counter-idea to the dominant narrative.”