Small Press Day returns on Saturday 25th July

By John Freeman on March 26, 2026 • ( 0 )

Britain’s Small Press Day – championing self-publishing, DIY culture, and grassroots comics across the UK and Ireland, and the internet – returns on Saturday 25th July 2026.

Founded by David Ziggy Greene (Private Eye, Scene & Heard, JAM Bookshop), the event’s mission is to forge links between shops and local self-published creators. It looks to provide a dedicated day of signings, panels and small press line-ups across the UK and Ireland.

*Broken Frontier Editor-in-Chief Andy Oliver*

2026 is the eleventh year of Small Press Day and the organising team of Lydia Turner and Andy Oliver (of the excellent comic news site, Broken Frontier) will be working incredibly hard behind the scenes to make this an epic Small Press Day party.

“Given the mammoth success of Small Press Day 2025 (read more about that here!) we are eager to repeat that level of participation this year,” says Andy. “So we are keen to hear from creators/shops who want to help us facilitate that.

“Get submitting, folks. Let’s make 2026 the biggest and best Small Press Day yet!”

• For more information about the Small Press Day heads to the official site, including the Get Involved page and the Event Submission page

The Aims of Small Press Day

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!

• For more information about the Small Press Day heads to the official site, including the Get Involved page and the Event Submission page

About the Author
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John Freeman

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.