Brooke Palmieri is a writer and artist working at the intersection of memory, history, and transsexual alternate realities. His writing spans hundreds of years of history; the magic, mystery and deep emotion of working in archives; and the past as a supernatural encounter. Brooke has trained as a historian at the University of Pennsylvania and Oxford, and in 2017 completed a PhD in radical 17th century printing history at University College London. In 2018, Brooke founded CAMP BOOKS to promote access to queer and trans history through rare archival materials, cheap zines, and installations. Brooke has lectured and given workshops on 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 in Self-Initiation is a trans spiritual memoir about witchcraft, heresy, and working in an occult bookstore in London. Born and raised in Philadelphia, he spent fifteen years in London and currently lives in the Mojave Desert.CV (pdf download) In Conversation
Brooke writes about radical history and culture in zines and occasionally on Substack
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)
An occult history that grounds the sacred yearning for magic in real life.
"Eager to forge a new reality, or recover an old one, with better metaphysics than the modern West? Bargain Witch can guide your self-initiation. It’s magic, through and through." Susan Stryker, author of Transgender History, and When Monsters Speak.
“Impeccably researched, passionately political, vast in scope, yet unfailingly intimate, Bargain Witch is far more than an exploration of witchcraft—it is an autobiography of consciousness. Standing with Brooke Palmieri beneath the stars at midnight, invoking the primaeval, is utterly thrilling. I loved this book.” Dodie Bellamy, author of Bee Reaved and When the Sick Rule the World
"I love this book. My only critique is that it wasn't long enough. I never wanted it to end! Reading this book is like doing a ritual with your coolest, smartest, queerest friend--it feels sexy, dangerous, and ecstatic all at once. Honestly, if you only get one book this year, get this one. Just reading it is like lobbing a molotov through the window of patriarchy: it's fun, it's educational, it's good for the world. Read it! Then go be gay and do witchcraft." Amanda Yates Garcia, author of Initiated and host of Between the Worlds Podcast
"Reading Bargain Witch is like taking home a thrifted mystery box and cracking it open to discover a trove of letters from wild mages, keys to lost archives, and strange objects that combine to form the perfect spell. This book brought me into communion with writers and wizards from centuries past while offering a new way forward, a way to live a life formed from communion and collection, from being with dead writers and the living earth, from finding teachers and kin everywhere. Palmieri's debut has left me feeling enchanted and alive--a gift to witches and queers (and nerds and freaks) everywhere." Sam Cohen, author of Sarahland
“This book is going to become very important in some people’s lives, a blueprint for the romantic life of future libertine queer witches.” Morgan M. Page, co-author of Boys Don’t Cry and Framing Agnes
“Brooke Palmieri’s Bargain Witch is an idiosyncratic, syncretic delight. It is a deep dive into what it means to be a witch in the modern world, conjured with love, rigor, and a generosity of spirit. It draws equally on Palmieri’s extensive Oxford education in literature and his time working at Treadwells, one of London’s premiere magic bookshops. But Palmieri makes equal space in his theology for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Goosebumps books, creating a quick moving, far-ranging text that shows a witch practice that is both modern and ancient; accessible and esoteric. Palmieri never shies away from the grift, the acts of self-creation, and the always-already lost history of witchcraft. Each possible negative is explored as a positive, embracing a queer methodology and spirituality that thrums through every part of this unique collection.” Hugh Ryan, author of The Women’s House of Detention: A Forgotten Queer History, and When Brooklyn Was Queer
“Bargain Witch is a spellbinding triumph! Brooke Palmieri doesn’t just write about magic, he channels it. With wit, wisdom, and a reverence for the fabulously freaky lineage of queer mystics, this book conjures an occult history that feels as lived-in as a dusty spellbook behind the counter of your favorite witchy thrift store. It’s hilarious, heartfelt, and haunting in the best way, like a séance with your smartest, sassiest coven.” Peaches Christ
CAMP BOOKS specializes in rare queer media—books, ephemera, archives—and fresh prints & zines! Each work reaches back to exhault our criminal heritage and joyful heresies, assembling queer pasts to nourish queer futures.
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