Iffy Books | 404 S. 20th St., PHL

🧵 Anarchist Sewing Club
2026-05-10 15:00 - 17:00, 2026-06-14 15:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Iffy Books, 404 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, 19146, United States
Interested in learning to sew, mend or make clothes? Already know how and wanna hang out with people while sewing? Come and join us! Sewing supplies and a sewing machine will be available for anyone needing them.

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🚧 Make Your First Website
2026-05-11 18:00 - 20:00, 2026-05-25 18:00 - 20:00, 2026-06-08 18:00 - 20:00
Make a home page like it’s 1999! Join us at Iffy Books for a new workshop called Make Your First Website, led by Ragman a.k.a. Richard Green. You’ll learn the basics of HTML and create a static site on the free hosting service Neocities. No experience necessary!
Please bring a laptop if you have one. We’re suggesting a $10–$25 donation for this workshop, no one turned away for lack of funds.
Register:
Coming soon!

✏️ The Writing Room
2026-05-12 17:00 - 19:30, 2026-05-19 17:00 - 19:30, 2026-05-26 17:00 - 19:30, 2026-06-02 17:00 - 19:30, 2026-06-09 17:00 - 19:30, 2026-06-16 17:00 - 19:30
Come co-work with other writers in three 40-minute units of silent writing. Writers and projects of any type welcome. 10-minute breaks and accountability check-ins between units. BYO coffee, water, computer chargers, notepads, etc.

⚙️ Neo-Luddite Reading Group
2026-05-14 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-06-11 18:30 - 20:30
➡️ Virtual Meetup Link
Discord: Email neoluddite@victorgom.es for an invite!
Full schedule: victorgom.es/neoluddite
If you’re joining for the first time, I’d suggest you read this before anything else for brief context: What the Luddites Really Fought Against by Richard Conniff.The only expectation is that you read the chapter(s) of the book that’s listed for that meeting. You’re still welcome to participate if you haven’t done the readings as long as you are mindful. For each chapter, I’ve also noted some optional readings for context, so I’d suggest checking those out rather than reading ahead in the book. And remember, if you ever find yourself struggling with any of the readings or concepts, reach out! Either directly to me over email or to the entire group over discord.

👾 Pixel Buddy Video Art Workshop
2026-05-15 14:00 - 16:00, 2026-05-22 14:00 - 16:00, 2026-05-29 14:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-05 14:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-12 14:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-19 14:00 - 16:00
In this workshop you’ll use a Pi Pico microcontroller to send low-res (320×240) digital video to an HDMI display. Despite its limitations, the cool thing about this device is that it’s inexpensive enough that you can plug it in somewhere (perhaps a wall of TVs at an electronics store) and leave it behind for prank/art/propaganda purposes.
Your Pi Pico will generate video in the DVI-D format rather than the newer HDMI standard. But because HDMI is backwards compatible with DVI-D, your device should work with any HDMI monitor or TV.
Here’s what’s in the kit:

Pi Pico board w/ microUSB port
Pico DVI video sock
insulated wire (4″)
heat shrink tubing (3″)

Here’s what else you’ll need:

HDMI cable
microUSB cable with data connection
computer (macOS/Linux/Windows)
soldering iron
lead-free solder
flux paste
header pins (optional)
wire stripping tool (optional)

➡️ Instructions
Register
coming soon!

⊕ Quarterly Bonus Workshop
2026-05-16 10:00 - 12:00
Our quarterly off-site bonus workshop for Patreon supporters. Check out our Patreon page for details!
Questions? Email iffybooks@iffybooks.net

🐌 Slow Living Support Group
2026-05-20 18:00 - 20:00, 2026-06-17 18:00 - 20:00
For people who value connection, sustainability, and creativity — without AI.
Bring:
• writing projects
• craft projects
• books & book recommendations
• CDs
Do not bring:
• screens
Provided:
• zine-making supplies
• snacks

🤔 FAFIO Beginner Tech Meetup
2026-05-21 18:30 - 20:30, 2026-06-18 18:30 - 20:30
FAFIO is a meetup for folks who want to learn new tech skills, but aren’t sure where to start. Let’s fuck around and figure it out. FAFIO means there is no instructor. Instead we learn by talking and sharing knowledge, reading info in zines and online, and hands-on trial and error.

🪐 Speculative Futures Reading Group
2026-05-27 19:00 - 20:30
The Speculative Futures Reading Group meets on the last Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m.!

🎙️ Wholesome Tech Podcast
2026-05-28 18:30 - 20:00
A new podcast project produced at Iffy Books. Stay tuned for details!

Photo CC-BY Abi Porter

💻 Philly 2600 Meetup
2026-06-05 18:00 - 20:00
> The Philly 2600 meeting is a monthly gathering of local hackers, phreaks, nerds, geeks, activists, tinkerers, developers, infosec professionals, and other interesting people.

📡 Meshtastic 101
2026-06-06 10:30 - 12:00
Join us for an introduction to Meshtastic, an application that lets you send private text messages over the air using pocket-sized LoRa radio transceivers. We’ll show you how to flash the latest Meshtastic firmware to the device, customize the settings, and start chatting with your friends.
Here’s a link to our zine on LoRa + Meshtastic.
Register:
coming soon!

🏠 IndieWeb Homebrew Website Club
2026-06-07 18:00 - 20:00
Homebrew Website Club is a growing world-wide network of meetups for everyone who wants to take back their web experience from social media silos, and own their online identities & content, or just want support with blogging!

🚂 Model Internet Club
2026-06-13 10:30 - 12:30
The Model Internet Club is back! Join us every second Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for an informal meetup focused on building small-scale computer networks.
No registration needed for this event! If we run out of space we can expand into our back yard area.
