The Nicosia Alternative Book Festival returns for its second year on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 November, bringing independent publishers, zines, books, discussions and presentations to YALLA Collective Space & Café in Nicosia.
According to organisers, this year’s programme includes an open discussion on colonialism, anti-colonialism and nationalisms in relation to Cyprus, and a discussion on migration and refugees in which migrants will take part. The festival will also focus on the relationship between language and power, and will explore links between capitalism and the Ottoman world.
The participating publishers, bookshops, collectives and cultural initiatives draw on different traditions of political and cultural thought. They are Affect Editions, Bomba Picnic, Faura Books, Fisherwomxn, Futura Books, IWW, La Zone, Moufflon Bookstore, OWK Press, Platypus, San Casciano, Yalla Bookstore, Anarchist Book Structure, Antipodes Publications, Ideodromio Bookshop, Peridiavasi Bookshop, Ektos Grammis, Eutopia, the Marxist Bookshop, New Cyprus Association, Panoptikon, Cultural Foundation 1948, Potlatch, Psifides and AFOA.
The organisers said the festival is self-organised and runs without sponsors or institutional backing, with the aim of fostering respect, cooperation and solidarity. They said they see books not simply as commodities or entertainment but as “tools for social change”.
