Brooke Palmieri is a writer and artist working at the intersection of memory, history, and gender-bending alternate realities. His writing spans hundreds of years of queer and trans history; the magic, mystery and deep emotion of working in archives; and the past as a supernatural encounter. Brooke is trained as a historian and in 2017 completed a PhD in radical 17th century printing history. In 2018, Brooke founded CAMP BOOKS, an imprint and shop promoting access to queer and trans history through rare archival materials, cheap zines, and workshops/installations. Brooke has lectured and given workshops on queer and trans history widely, from institutions like Harvard, Smith, and NYU, to galleries like Kettle’s Yard, Chelsea Space, and Tate Modern, and most importantly, community spaces like Queercircle and the LGBTQ+ Community Center in London. His book Bargain Witch: Essays on Self-Initiation is about witchcraft, heresy, and working in an occult bookstore in London, and comes out in October 2025. Born and raised in Philadelphia, he spent fourteen years in London and currently lives in Los Angeles.CV (pdf download) In Conversation
Brooke writes about radical history and culture in zines, on Substack, and from October 7, 2025, in his first book Bargain Witch, part memoir of repeated self-initiation into witchcraft, part historical deep-dive into witchcraft, heresy, and folk beliefs. Bargain Witch will be published by Dopamine Books.
Hear Brooke read two excerpts from the book at Beyond Baroque in Venice Beach: “Occult Experiments: Queer Transdisciplinary Poetics,” April 2024 (starting 13:39) “Dopamine Books Author Showcase,” June 2024, (starting 35:46)
Brooke expands his understanding and embodiment of history through sculpture and printmaking.
More Coming SoonCAMP BOOKS specializes in rare queer media— books, ephemera, archives—and fresh prints & zines. These objects are meant for use in art, ritual, education, exhibition, immersion, interior decoration, and each work claims a space for gender-bending textualities to demand alternate realities, for queer pasts to nourish queer futures.
CAMP BOOKS was founded in 2018. The project consists of three parts: selling rare books and ephemera related to LGBTQIA+ histories; using the proceeds to fund printing rigorously researched, collaborative publications to make these histories more accessible; and creating installations and workshops that offer immersive experiences in queer and trans print cultures.
CAMP BOOKS incorporates rare books and archival materials into a secondhand ecosystem that generates funds for new work, and informs what is printed. CAMP BOOKS believes queer and trans people deserve to encounter their history on their own terms and for their own pleasure. Historically, this has happened in bookshops sustained by us for us, rather than institutional spaces, hence CAMP BOOKS is a bookshop. Radical, sensual historical matchmaking as a source for creativity, exchange, and emotional outbursts lies at the heart of the project.
SHOP CAMPWanna collaborate? Commission new work? Invite me to lecture or deliver a workshop?
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