Expozine is an annual

small press A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. Independent press is general ...

zine A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to writ ...

and

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

fair in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. It is reported to be Canada's largest zine fair and one of the largest small press fairs in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

attracting some 270 exhibitors and 15,000 visitors each autumn. Expozine It was co-founded by

Billy Mavreas Billy Mavreas (born August 14, 1968) is a Canadian cartoonist and artist living in Montreal, Quebec, Canada whose mostly silent or wordless comics revolve around the themes of language, sexuality and spirituality. He is of Greek descent from the ...

and Louis Rastelli. It is organized by ARCMTL, an archive for publications, ephemera and audio-visual documents related to the history of Montreal and it's artistic, literary and counter-cultural scene. Throughout the years, the fair has showcased work from notable

writers and publishers such as Invisible Books, ''

Broken Pencil ''Broken Pencil'' is a Canadian magazine based in Toronto, which profiles zine culture, independent arts and music. It was founded in 1995 and publishes four times annually. History The magazine was founded in 1995 by Hal Niedzviecki. Its curr ...

'', '' Maisonneuve'', ''

New Escapologist ''New Escapologist'' was a UK-based lifestyle magazine between 2007 and 2017, now continued online as subscription essays. The magazine and the current essay series take the stance that work has too central a position in western life and that wo ...

'',

Kate Beaton Kathryn Moira Beaton (born 8 September 1983) is a Canadian comics artist best known as the creator of the comic strip ''Hark! A Vagrant'', which ran from 2007 to 2018. Her other major works include the children's books '' The Princess and the Po ...

, and

Drawn & Quarterly Drawn & Quarterly is a publishing company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, specializing in comics. It publishes primarily comic books, graphic novels and comic strip collections. The books it publishes are noted for their artistic content, ...

. The exhibitors at Expozine comme from a diversity of publishing and print-based practices from both Francophone and Anglophone communities.

History

The first Expozine took place in 2002 and has continued to showcase independent publishing from around the world every subsequent year. The first editions of Expozine were held at the Sala Rossa (2002), Relais Mont-Royal (2003) and Station C (2004) and for several years following in the basement of the Saint-Enfant-Jesus church in the Mile End neighbourhood. More recent editions have been held at Église Saint-Denis (2016, 2017) and Église Saint-Arsène (2018, 2019). The 2020 edition was held as a virtual fair. In 2015, ARCMTL was listed among the finalists for the 30th annual Grand Prix du Conseil des arts de Montréal, for their organisation of Expozine.

Expozine Alternative Press Awards

The Expozine Alternative Press Awards recognize the best of the publications available at a given year's Expozine fair. It awards publications in several categories such as book, zine, and comic, in Canada's two official languages of English and French. The awards are granted at an annual gala separate to the main Expozine event.

Distroboto

Expozine has a year-round companion project called Distroboto, which consists of a citywide network of

cigarette machine A cigarette machine is a vending machine that dispenses packs of cigarettes in exchange for payment. Many modern cigarette machines require customers to swipe an identification card to prevent persons under the legal smoking age from purchasin ...

s repurposed to dispense small press publications. The Distroboto zine vending machines are placed in various locations around the city.

External links

Official WebsiteAwards Webpage
with archive of winners
Distroboto WebsiteExpozine Photos
Photographic coverage of Expozine 2013 by

Cult MTL ''Cult MTL'' is an English language arts, culture and news website and monthly print publication, based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its first print edition appeared on 7 September 2012. It was created only a few months after Montreal's last Engli ...

References

2002 establishments in Quebec Recurring events established in 2002 Annual events in Canada Book fairs in Canada Comics conventions in Canada Events in Montreal Zines Literary festivals in Quebec {{Canada-festival-stub