Black Reading Room
Black Reading Room
Presented by Black Zine Fair, hosted by Secret Riso Club
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ June 15 to July 14, 2025
★ ★ ★ ★ Thursdays ∙ 1-6 PM
★ ★ ★ Sundays ∙ 12-6 PM
★ ★ RSVP encouraged, but not required
★ By appointment any other day email bzf@sojourners4justice.press + studio@secretrisoclub.com with “Black reading room appt” in the subject line
Black Zine Fair presents the Black Reading Room, a community space at Secret Riso Club that functions as an intimate, living archive honoring the past, present, and future of Black publishing. Installed in celebration of Juneteenth, the room pays homage to the Black freedom struggle rooted in southern traditions, abolitionist philosophies, and the ongoing fight for liberation.
As AmeriKKKa faces rising waves of censorship, surveillance, and cultural repression, the Black Reading Room offers space for reflection and imagination. Visitors are invited to spend time with a curated collection of contemporary and archival zines, pamphlets, artist books, books, and films that embrace Black publishing as an underground choir of memory, refusal, and rough drafts of other possible worlds.
This installation continues the ethos of the Black Zine Fair: to celebrate and preserve Black independent publishing as a creative and political response to oppression. Through activations—live readings, tarot readings, nail sculpting, tattooing, zine-making—everyday acts of beauty and care become forms of refusal, ritual, and communal gathering.
Activations
★ Black Frequencies
★ Tarot with Jupi
★ Nails with myx lee
★ Tattoo with Ina
Guidelines
Remove your shoes before entering.
No food or drinks allowed.
You can touch, read, and watch materials in the room.
Wash your hands before touching anything.
Handle everything with care and respect; many items are handmade, rare, and fragile.
Do not take anything from the room; nothing is available to keep.
Return all items to their original place when finished.
Support us
The Black Reading Room is free and open to the public, although donations are appreciated to support our work. Please make a suggested donation between $5-20 or more if you have the means to. Thank you!
Mask policy
Masks aren’t required at Secret Riso Club, however, if you see someone wearing a mask in the reading room, wear a mask out of respect and solidarity. Thank you.