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Monday 3pm - 7pm Thursday 5:30pm - 7pm

Blue Heron Books & Zines

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Kingston, ON
Blue Heron Books & Zines

Blue Heron Books and Zines is a community bookstore and zine distribution shop located in the AKA Autonomous Social Centre in Kingston

Blue Heron Books and Zines is a community bookstore and zine distribution shop located in the AKA Autonomous Social Centre at #1-75 Queen St in Kingston, Ontario. We strive to provide and promote radical, anarchist and anti-authoritarian books and media less readily available from mainstream sources or local venues such as libraries. Folks are also invited to come by during our open hours to read

in the space, and engage in conversations with each other, collective members, and volunteers; we aim to promote the exchange of ideas. We are not a profitable venture, any money earned through the sale of books and other publications goes towards purchasing new material and also paying towards the broader survival of AKA. The current collective of the store is committed to creating an anarchist legacy, and the space readily identifies itself as anarchist. Blue Heron sells predominantly used books, but some new, which makes our inventory all the more financially accessible to the public. Furthermore, folks can become book club members, which allows them to ‘try before they buy’, borrowing books for up to three weeks at a time. Blue Heron is run by volunteers. Collective members seek used books from various sources, including internet sites, thrift stores and garage/house sales. We now have an online catalog of our books! Check it out and come by Blue Heron during Monday open hours to join our book club and preview a book: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/blueheronbooks

01/15/2024

*THIS WEDNESDAY* reading ahead isn't required--we will begin by reading this out loud together before discussing. AND we're gonna make you dinner.
Image text: "civilization and the state are myths colonizers keep telling themselves and forcing others to believe. It is their ritual of power, their prayer is time. The settler imaginary, the civilized mind, is always haunted by everything in them that they have killed. Their State, their entire civilization, exists on the precipice of rupture... When their imaginary cannot justify itself against its brutalities, it becomes so vicious and fearful that it attacks and comes itself." Klee Benally, Unknowable.
Join us to read Unknowable by Klee Benally. Wednesday @ 7pm, January 17th, 75 Queen street, Kingston. *VEGETARIAN DINNER PROVIDED*

01/10/2024

2024 Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendars available now at Blue Heron! $15-$20 sliding scale. Drop by during open hours to get yours! Mondays 3-7pm, Thursdays 5-7pm.

01/07/2024

Free Store Restock! Check it out :). Mondays 3-7 and Thursdays 5-7.

11/16/2023

New zines! Free to read & take home -- pick one up during open hours, Thursday 5-7pm or Monday 3-7pm.

11/16/2023

New zines! Free to read and take home -- open hours Thursday 5-7 and Monday 3-7.

11/04/2023

Join a q***r & trans contingent in Kingston for the Canada-wide March for Gaza on Saturday, Nov 4th!
Meet at AKA, 75 Queen st., at 1:30pm. Pick up a sign & walk over to City Hall together for thw march at 2pm.

Join other q***r and trans people in Kingston to strengthen our call to end the genocide in Palestine now!
Because as q***r and trans people, we resist all forms of oppression and pinkwashing, because our liberation is tied to the liberation of palestinians and all people. Because we refuse to be complicit in genocide.

10/30/2023

SUPPORT NEEDED NOW: MP Offices Occupied for Gaza!

Rally Happening Now!

Dear friends & allies!

Today, MP offices across the country are being taken over demanding an end to Canada's complicity in genocide. Over 8,000 Palestinians have now been killed by Israel, including more than 3,000 children. Trudeau and our MP have blood on their hands for refusing to call for an immediate ceasefire, for continuing to send aid to Israel, and for selling Israel the weapons that are being used against Palestinian civilians and children. The situation is urgent with Israel plunging Gaza into darkness over the weekend and launching a ground assault.

Join us NOW outside at Mark Gerretsen's Office, 841 Princess St, as we demand that all MPs across the country:

- Call for an immediate ceasefire -- Call on Canada to join the growing international call for an immediate ceasefire
- Lift the siege - call on Israel to end the siege on Gaza to fully allow humanitarian aid in, and permanently lift the blockade
- End Canada's complicity in Israeli occupation by calling for an end to arms sales to Israel and Canadian complicity in genocide
- Free Palestine - call on Canada to oppose Israeli apartheid and act to liberate Palestine

A massacre is unfolding while the world is watching. There's no time to waste!

Join us at 841 Princess Street now! Dress warmly and be ready to stay until our demands are met!

10/02/2023

Sharing and 's book launch event -- we aren't in Montreal, but maybe you are! Mostafa Henaway and folks from the Immigrant Workers Centre will be there to speak about migrant worker struggles.

10/02/2023

NEW BOOK HAUL YALL!!

We always come back with new books after an anarchist bookfair. Shoutout to for donating some of these titles to our library--thank you for gifting these to our anarchist library.

And thanks to the rad folks who organized the Hamilton Anarchist Bookfair.

09/24/2023

Excited for next Saturday's Hamilton Anarchist bookfair!

09/14/2023

Our annual Outdoor Used Book Sale is coming up!! Saturday, September 23rd, 10am-5pm, 232 Wellington! 1000s of cheap books! All welcome!

08/11/2023

Our shelves hold so many good books. It's nice just to be around them sometimes! ...reading them is a good option too, esp'y with friends or comrades.

08/05/2023

Some sweet new in our collection!

07/31/2023

Check out our free store for anything you might need! There is clothing of various sizes - all in good condition, stuff for your kitchen, bathroom, games, blankets, a cute new cat scratcher and more! We are open (most) Mondays 3-7 & Thuesdays 5-7.

07/24/2023

More free veggies! Come by Blue Heron hours today from 3-7pm and grab some cucumbers and summer squash from

07/17/2023

We have some free cherries to give away during Monday open hours!

06/26/2023

Happening TOMORROW! 🥳✨🥰❤️🖤❤️🖤

05/13/2023

We are excited to table at this year's Montreal Anarchist Bookfair. For anyone who has never been, the bookfair is a great place to meet up with anarchist friends & comrades new and old, pick up lots of reading material, posters, tshirts, etc., and learn about anarchist projects and perspectives through conversation and workshops. The bookfair, to me, is really a welcoming space if not a bit chaotic :). If you can make it to Montreal, you should definitely check it out and if you are there, come by our table and say hi! We will have some great DIY silkscreened shirts, used books and more.

03/25/2023

We printed tshirts today and did a bit of experimenting with colours. All these designs are original made by collective members :). We print on used shirts sourced from thrift stores. For sale for $15-$25 sliding scale. Pick one up during Blue Heron open hours or at the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair in May!

03/25/2023

The Umbrella Academy is hosting a second talk about Transfeminism with Talia Mae Bettcher! This is a free event, taking place after Blue Heron open hours on Monday, March 27th at 7pm at AKA. See you there!

03/14/2023

Montreal Anarchist Bookfair tabling/workshop/event/care space application forms due tomorrow, March 15th!! Looking forward to seeing many comrades and new faces there in May!

02/14/2023

Thank you, mysterious friend, for these excellent book donations!

01/09/2023

One way to learn more about history, culture, political movements, etc. is from memoirs and autobiographies. Here are some from our "Memoirs and Biographies" section. You'll also find at least 50 other memoirs on our shelves in many sections - Black, disability, anarchist practices, prison & abolition, Indigenous, arts & media, comix & graphic novels, fascism & anti-fascism, environment.

Address

Queen Street At The Corner Of Wellington
Kingston, ON

Opening Hours

Monday	3pm - 7pm
Thursday	5:30pm - 7pm

Website

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/blueheronbooks

Alerts

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Videos

OPEN TODAY from 3-7pm Come by to browse or buy books, get free stuff at the free store and/or herb shelf, or just hang out and chat :)

Free Store

We hope someone is crazy enough to brave the cold and snow today to come visit during open hours (pickup-only, 3-7pm). We will be posting some items from the Free Store so you can check out what we have and decide whether you want it enough to make the trek. All items are FREE (donations welcome but not required) and are distributed on a first come, first serve basis (no holds).

New Books Dec. 2021

Some of the new additions to our collection! Maybe we'll do some fb live readings from these selections or others this winter. What would you like to hear/see? Other suggestions or requests? #read #anarchist #books #ygk