Blood Fruit Library

Blood Fruit is a Library / Cafe / Printer / Publisher / Distributor. Unapologetically partisan.

Recently, a group of people from several different projects in Chicago came up with the idea of opening a lending library and community center at Blood Fruit Printworks in Bridgeport.

Our goal is to create and provide access to a carefully curated selection of underground, radical, and self-published literature. By inviting people to contribute their personal books, we aim to build a collection with the participation of an ever-expanding network of friends and neighbors. We see the collectivizing of books as a strike against a culture of individualized learning. We realize the need for an inclusive and inter-generational sanctuary where people can meet, connect, and form meaningful relationships. Through the co-creation of the library and its events, we hope to manifest new constellations of affinity that give rise to fertile grounds of struggle.

Blood Fruit Printworks, a not-for-profit collectively-run print studio, will continue to operate from the same space, opening up possibilities for collaborative reading, writing, and publishing that support radical visions of the future. By designing, producing, and distributing our own original works and helping others do the same, we hope to foster a library environment where people see themselves not as passive readers, but active creators of knowledge and culture.

We are currently working on making the space welcoming and beautiful, as well as filling our bookshelves.