With no less than twenty events taking place in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and even the US, this year’s Small Press Day built on the foundations of last year’s reinvigorated tenth anniversary event with another day of enthusiastic love for all things self-published in comics. SPD 26 was brought to you this year by the Broken Frontier editorial team of Lydia Turner and myself, Andy Oliver, after inspirational original co-organiser Amneet Johal stepped back after a decade, and it once more captured its creator David Ziggy Greene‘s vision of a day where connections were formed between local comics creators and their communities. You can see a list of all the participating venues here on the Small Press Day site.
SPD 2026 poster by Kamila Krol, aka Pigeon
There are too many highlights to list here but it was wonderful to see events take place in places like Northampton and Liverpool who haven’t held Small Press Days before; to have SPD make it to an Oxfam store for the very first time (make sure to pick up the Oxfam Blackheath team’s Blackheath Folk anthology because it’s excellent); and for us to have an event in the States again thanks to The Floating Bookshop (having to reschedule the date for SPD quite late on meant an unfortunate clash with SDCC so hopefully next year we’ll see more American shops taking part).
Andy at Gosh! Comics – Photo by Mauricio Molizane
Less good? We really need shops to get back into submitting their events to the Small Press Day team via the submissions form on the site. SPD is a community event not a commercial one, and it’s run by a tiny team of volunteers in their own time and at their own expense. The only thing we ask is that events are registered with us (with details of what’s happening) so we can support and promote them centrally. This year nearly half the venues didn’t do that, despite multiple reminders via e-mails and DMs. That led to lots of extra work for us trying to piece things together from social media and then having to deal with disappointed creators wondering why they weren’t being mentioned in the listings (because we didn’t know!). Please help us to help you with this next year, folks, so we can all come together as a community and give all the featured artists the kind of spotlights they deserve.
Below are photos from a few of the participating shops, collectives, museums and other spaces. If you would like yours added to this gallery then e-mail Andy (me!) here with details and pics. From zine-making to signings, from launches to workshops, this was another amazing day of small press goodness. Thanks so much to all participants, organisers and spaces. And a special thanks to SPD co-organiser Lydia Turner from me!
Leeds Comics Collective at Brew Society
Entry!
Broken Frontier Six to Watch star Anna Readman
Frank Deacon
Dan Pollard, Adrien Bryter, Jaz Bedford, TC Robin
Calico NM and James Patricks at Robert Luckett’s table
Abi Watson, Kristyna Baczynski, Feff and FionaMarchbank
April the Frog and Jack Fallows
Photos courtesy of Robert Luckett
Buy comics from Leeds Comics Collective here
Workers Gallery, Wales
Gayle Rogers, artist-in-residence writes: The Workers Gallery champions graphic novels, comics and zines because of their special power to connect people with important small and big stories in an inclusive and engaging way. We also celebrate the artwork through exhibitions – like the current show of work by Myfanwy Tristram from her Noisy Valley, The Art of Protest graphic novel.
Small Press Day is a wonderful opportunity to get folks reading and more importantly talking about creators and their work. It’s great to be part of an international day – to feel connected to other venues across the UK and the globe and to see what they are creating and celebrating.
Photos courtesy of Gayle Rogers
Visit the Workers Gallery site here
Gosh! Comics, London
The Very Tiny Comics crew were at Gosh! including Deadly Knitshade, Rebecca K Jones, Jenny Robins, Nancy Artmusic, Chloe Starling, Simone Lia and Ria Grix.
Camberwell Comic Club at Gosh! included Gimmick Ainouche, Mark Berry, Issy Lazeris, Mengya Li, Merceded Lundy, Lina Maria Marrow, Pascaline Ruhana, Daisy Tee, Francis Todd, Sammy Walkey, Paige Williams-Malone, Madison Williams-Malone and Tricia Wong.
Photos courtesy of Mauricio Molizane
The Floating Bookshop, Oklahoma
Guest artists at The Floating Bookshop included Regular Candy, the Tanglman team and Lucky Jo Rabbit.
Oxfam Blackheath, London
Broken Frontier ‘Six to Watch’ star Beatrice Mossman signing Blackheath Folk at Oxfam Blackheath.
The Cartoon Museum, London
Just some of the small press comics on offer at The Cartoon Museum.
Hants Comics Club at Waiting Room, Winchester
The Hants Comics Club Anthology launch. Read our review here.
Close Encounters, Northampton
Giorgio Pandiana at Close Encounters with copies of The Two Pyramids (read our review here)
Article by Andy Oliver
