It’s that time of the year! I’ll be at Expozine all weekend long. You can find me in the basement of Église St-Enfant-Jésus at 5035 rue St-Dominique from 12-6pm on Saturday and Sunday. Facebook event here. I’ve got copies of my new zine Critical Breakfast (split with Telegram #38) and all kindsa new stock, including stuff I haven’t had a chance to list online yet.

I would suggest reading this post on CultMTL for a breakdown of the conversation about accessibility that took place online over the last few days. If you decide to scroll through the comments, consider this your content warning for ableism and transmisogyny. I’d also recommend checking out this open letter demanding an accessible venue for Expozine next year. The organizers keep insisting that the issue of accessibility never came up until last year. I know this isn’t true because I have emails from 2010 where I asked the same question, and there is no way I was the first or only one to ask. Like I said to my friends, I see events like the queer bookfair and anarchist bookfair (which have greater accessibility and safer spaces policies) as kind of an alternative to Expozine, but for me personally, I want to be present in all of those worlds. People are often very happy to find my table because most of the zines are $1-$3, because they are hella queer, because there are perzines and political zines, etc. I distribute some writing specifically on accessibility in public spaces and to me it doesn’t make sense to boycott the event when I have the privilege (cis and able-bodied, for example) of being present with those words. I agree that the organizers’ response this year is particularly shameful. Frankly, the sales that I make at Expozine keep my distro running for another few months until the next fair. I’ll be tabling (for the eighth year in a row). And I support all actions in protest of their lack of accessibility – tabling outside, petitioning, what-have-you (remember the action at the anarchist bookfair last May in regards to their safer spaces policy?). And I’m looking forward to talking about it with my friends.