Canzine West at SFU

Canzine West: the Giant Zine Fair is a comic book and zines fair presented in partnership with the Broken Pencil Magazine and the SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement.

This annual event gives an opportunity to over a hundred various vendors from Vancouver (and other cities in Canada) to showcase their work and receive recognition and comments from the public.

As one of the vendors put it: “What I like the most about Canzine is the fact that it gives small vendors a chance to show their work. This event is not too ‘artsy’, so it allows us [smaller vendors in Vancouver] to show what we are capable of, and I think it’s great.”

The 2015 Canzine West fair was open on Saturday, October 24, from 1pm till 7pm. The guests had the opportunity to enjoy various works by different vendors, purchase the zines and comics that they liked, and attend two panels throughout the evening – all for a small donation of five dollars.

The event highlighted the works of established artists who have been showcasing comics for years, as well as the talents of up-and-coming writers and illustrators. For instance, you could meet a vendor from Toronto who was showcasing her creative “Shitty Horoscopes” collection; talk to a book illustrator and publisher who was now taking care of her family legacy; have your name written in calligraphy by a young vendor specialized in creating greeting cards; or enjoy the works of Byrne Creek Media Art students represented at the fair by their media art teacher.

Canzine West not only presented a great variety of vendors of different ages and experiences, but also gave the visitors a chance to learn more about interactive story telling, and hear the radical reading series from the local writers.

The first panel featured the co-authors and illustrators of Windy & Friends book series, Judith Steedman and Robin Mitchell Cranfield, together with Talent Pun, a designer in interactive app development. They took their time to answer the questions about their interactive story-telling app and demonstrated some of the key features of their work. The second panel — the radical reading series — introduced Carellin Brooks, Chris Walter, Lucas Crawford and Rick Maddocks. The authors gave a sneak peek into their works by reading part of their books, short stories, or poems.