2025 marks 10 years of Small Press Day and the organising team of Amneet Johal, Lydia Turner and Andy Oliver have worked incredibly hard behind the scenes to bring comic fans an epic SPD party across the UK!
The day-long event is brought to you in association with Alternative Press and Broken Frontier.
If you use social media that uses hashtags, search for #smallpressday for local events – or visit Small Press Day 2025 official page for info! (Amneet has been trawling social media so they as many tie in events can be publicised there).
For example, in Scotland, Forbidden Planet Glasgow will be featuring ten local small press artists across both our floors to mark this year’s SPD! From 11.00am – 6.00pm instore. More info here. Other Forbidden Planet International stores are running indie events, too, including Forbidden Planet Belfast and Forbidden Planet Dublin.
In Cardiff, Art Hole will bring you a day of comics signings, art talks, workshops and a small press marketplace featuring creators from South Wales and beyond. Follow their social media channels to see the detailed schedule for the day.
In Newcastle, enjoy drop-in collaborative comics making with the Paper Jam Comics Collective at Travelling Man, from 1.00pm. No skill required, no booking required, if you feel like it, just turn up whenever and help make some daft comics, for a laugh!
These are just a few of the events taking place! Head here to check on events near you!
“Thank you to everyone doing their bit today for Small Press Day to work together for the wider comics community, “says Andy, who also runs the brilliant Broken Frontier website. “We haven’t seen engagement like this since before the pandemic. Very proud to be a co-organiser of SPD. 22 events happening!”
Small Press Day 2025 takes place all day, TODAY, Saturday 19th July 2025 | Various venues and Local Comic Shops, across the UK | Web: smallpressday.co.uk
If you’re unfamiliar with Small Press Day, the aims of the day, written way back in 2016, feature below!
What are the aims of Small Press Day for stores?
Small Press Day provides shops with a dedicated day to shine a spotlight on the self-published comics and zines they stock and bring some of the local creators responsible for them into their environs for in-store signings and workshops. By building a showcase event around the small press world, it’s hoped that it will attract new readers to that work, raise its profile, and also tempt the existing comics audience to check out some of the next wave of amazing UK and Irish artists and writers. It ultimately provides an exciting opportunity for shops to be the first to discover, platform, and champion local talent ahead of national fairs and conventions.
What are the aims of Small Press Day for creators?
It’s a chance for creators to be the focus of their local shop, meet readers, talk about their work with potential new audiences, sign their comics and take part in workshop-style panels. Small press sections are already a thriving part of many shops, but on Small Press Day we support the community side of the scene by bringing together shops, artists, activists and readers in one big party-style celebration – connecting the local to the national to widen reach as far as possible!
Small Press Day 2025 takes place all day, TODAY, Saturday 19th July 2025 | Various venues and Local Comic Shops, across the UK | Web: smallpressday.co.uk
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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Thanks so much for the shout-out, John! Really apprecaited.