Where else can readers satisfy their literary appetite for Hawaiian tiki bars or delve into the seemingly mundane chronicles of a professional dishwasher?
These are just some the options found at Canzine West: Festival of Zines, which celebrates the many charms of self-published, non-commercial magazines, comics and chapbooks.
Taking place Nov. 8 at the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (149 West Hastings St.) the event showcases lesser-known and independently published writing and artwork from anyone with a message or story to tell. However, the results don’t have to be quirky or unconventional. Often zines are wellsprings of political discussions and social issues. In addition to hundreds of zines and comics on display and for sale, festival goers can peruse chapbooks, broadsheets and posters.
The chance to explore a small piece of someone else’s “unfiltered” daily life and ideas is one reason Leanne Prain has been a zine enthusiast since her days as a college student. Prain, author of Strange Material: Storytelling through Textiles, will be one of the presenters at the festival’s Radical Reading Series. Although her book was released by a conventional publisher, Prain says her messages on textiles, crafts and design are influenced by the edgy, non-conformist qualities that define zine culture. The festival, which originated in Toronto, is a great way for writers and artists from Western Canada to show off their projects, says Prain.
“So it brings up the national profile of people who are doing independent projects here in the west, because we don’t have a lot of stuff that goes from east to west in this country.”
The festival is organized by Toronto-based magazine Broken Pencil, which profiles and reviews independently produced zines, books, websites, videos and artwork four times a year. Hal Niedzviecki, founder and fiction editor of Broken Pencil, says the magazine was born in the early days of his writing career when he wanted to elevate the profile of zine culture.
As for Vancouver’s relationship with zine culture, Niedzviecki points to the city’s reputation in the ’60s as “a hotbed of underground journals.”
“There’s still that element of kind of anarchy, and hippiness, and a little bit of punk thrown in,” explains Niedzviecki. “But I have been noticing there’s a lot of finer arts stuff starting to come from Vancouver — illustration… drawings and really beautiful handmade books.”
In addition to the festival’s giant zine and small press faire, writer and cartoonist Mimi Pond will give a talk. The illustrator, who has worked for such publications as the New York Times and Los Angeles Times and written for The Simpsons and Pee Wee’s Playhouse, will discuss her recent graphic novel, Over Easy, which is set in the “tumultuous world of the 1970s…a dark moral swamp she was left to navigate on her own.”
For visitors looking for some quick laughs, the festival will feature the popular 1-2 Punch Book Pitch where participants have two minutes to convince judges in front of a crowd to publish their book. The judges will then deliver their own one-minute rejection or approval of the idea. The winner gets a $200 prize pack. Visit brokenpencil.com for more information.
