For this Sofa Session Martin Parr is joined by Craig Atkinson of Café Royal Books for a conversation around photography, zines, independent publishing and the CRB journey from MySpace to an unrivalled photographic archive.

Craig has published over 500 documentary photography zines since he established CRB back in 2005, resulting in an extensive archive. Each CRB title presents a single story by a single photographer; collectively they aim to gather and organise a genre of photography that has often been neglected. Martin and Craig talk about the origins of Craig’s zine making, the CRB archive being represented in galleries and museums across the globe and why Café Royal Books is called Café Royal Books.

This video was filmed during the 2022 MPF exhibition, Cafe Royal Books: Documentary, Zines and Subversion.

Filmed and edited by Alex Parkyn-Smith