Blue Heron Books and Zines is a community bookstore and zine distribution shop located in the AKA Autonomous Social Centre at the corner of Queen and Wellington 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.

In addition to selling and lending media, Blue Heron hosts events in our space, including workshops, lectures and discussion forums. We are currently running a monthly Applied Anarchy discussion series on a variety of topics, which identifies and proposes solutions to problems in our lives from an anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian framework.