Alternative Press Anthology 2009

Dear all, The Alternative Press Fair was great!  We’ve had reports from all over that those who came had a good time, met some interesting people and sold, bought or swapped work. Some saw exciting things, and generally enjoyed the day. It gave a chance for creators to get their work out to a wide audience, and we think it inspired some people to do something creative. Following on from that, we are now putting together a full colour book. The main aim is to get small press creators and the alternative press scene noticed by a wider audience. We think it’s a brilliant scene; the work, the people, the creative freedom – and we strongly believe that people are empowered by realising their creativity and expressing themselves through the small press. We will set out to reflect as much of the alternative press scene as possible, covering zines, comics, poetry, short stories and political writing as well as anything else that you believe represents the scene. So, the themes are very broad. Introduce yourself! What we mean is, look at yourself and what you do in the small press, why you do it and how you got into it, or how you got started and think about how you can put that across. We want this book to be a collection of the great work going on in the small press scene, as well as having a handbook element exploring how people can be involved or get started themselves. We’d like to include artwork, illustration, poetry, articles, opinion, biographies and ‘how to’ sections. To make it a really special book we are asking people to do something new – it’s your book, promoting the scene and what you do, so do your best work and we’ll do our best to get decent distribution and spread the word as far as possible on its release. We would like submissions by Thursday 30th April 2009, so please get in touch letting us know how you’d like to contribute. Good luck jimi gherkin and peter lally comicsandzines.wordpress.com Pagination: 80 pages Size: 240mm x 170mm (with bleed – don’t need to leave any border round the edge) Printing: Full colour CMYK

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What a fantastic day!

Thanks to all of you who came and lent your support to the small press scene. Thanks to those who helped out with encouragement all the way through, those who blogged us, offered publicity through interviews and listings, those that made flyers; Rich Cowdry, Al Maceachern, Scott Jason Smith, Gareth Brookes, Chloe McCormack and Zarina Liew look up these guys they’re wicked. Thanks to Peter Lally for being a great working partner and taking care of business, that guy does not mess about!

Anyway, that is how I see this scene; a massive community, everyone helping out where they can, and it’s great to be a part of it!

Keep your eyes peeled, we’ll be holding another event in around six months time, and in the meantime we are planning to put a book together (see below) dealines, themes and specifications will be issued shortly.

Take care of yourselves, love all round,

jimi gherkin

comicsandzines.wordpress.com

Alternative Press Anthology

Firstly, we hope that you had fun at the fair. Maybe you’ve seen something that inspires you to create your own alternative media; to draw a comic, produce a zine, or to write a book or some poetry – anything’s possible. Perhaps you’ve simply enjoyed what people are doing and are interested in seeing more.

The mainstream media isn’t our forum; it’s not owned by us and serves the interests and agendas of other groups. This is why the world of small press publishing is so important; there is the freedom to express, without having to serve others.

We organised this event in order to show what is going on in the world of small press publishing and for people to meet and exchange ideas. To present people’s work in another way, we are putting together an Alternative Press Anthology book. This will showcase the talents of small press creators and introduce people to what the scene has to offer.

Please get in touch with us if you would be interested in being a part of this. We would like as wide a variety of work as possible, and to cover areas such as perzines, comics, art books, poetry pamphlets and radical literature – anything that’s out there really. Articles, illustrations and anything else which you feel represents what you do will be considered, though due to the constraints of reality we cannot put everything in and so will have to select and arrange the material. We will strive to create a book that will do justice to what we believe is a great scene and you too will need to do the same……

The point is that we really show the best of the small press so get your pens and pencils out, your glue and glitter and let’s show people what we’re made of!

jimi gherkin & peter lally