Comics Youth CIC is a creative community organisation led by young people, for young people with “an aim is to empower youth across the Liverpool City Region to flourish from the margins of society.” They’re also behind the Marginal Publishing House, the first youth-led publishing house whose books we’ve reviewed a couple of times this year. Announced today, as part of their Marginal Changemakers programme which teaches young people about both publishing and activism, they will be putting on an event on August 3rd called Talking Shelves. This will be run in conjunction with Liverpool bookshops and looks to spotlight marginalised comics to the public. An excellent initiative, as ever, from this direction.
COMICS YOUTH CIC LAUNCH TALKING SHELVES, AN EVENT TO SHARE AND SHOWCASE MARGINALISED COMICS TO THE WIDER PUBLIC.
The event has been organised by the Marginal Changemakers and will be made in collaboration with independent bookshops in the Merseyside region.
The Marginal Changemakers is a cohort of 14-25 year olds who want to make a difference within the publishing industry. Shelftalkers, our current campaign, tackles issues surrounding comics and how they are marketed and distributed.
The Talking Shelves event will place comics by marginalised creators at the forefront of conversation and will bring regular comics readers and new fans together in open discussions.
The event is open to the public and is free to attend. There will be information shared via Comics Youth’s social media and on the day for more information on participating.
On August 3rd 2024, Comics Youth CIC will be hosting Talking Shelves, a day focused on reading and recommending comics, graphic novels and manga by marginalised creators. Talking Shelves is organised by the Marginal Changemakers programme. The event will be hosted through two Merseyside indie bookshops; Bear Hunt Books in the Wirral and Dead Ink Books in Liverpool.
Customers visiting Bear Hunt Books and Dead Ink Books on August 3rd will be able to explore the shops’ comics, read recommendations for comics by marginalised creators and share recommendations of their own. The event was created as many young people feel that comics are poorly marketed and distributed and to give marginalised creators more attention. This event is about giving comics a time to shine, and in particular celebrating and supporting marginalised creators. The hope is that people will leave this event feeling inspired and encouraging other bookshops in Merseyside to adopt this new approach to highlighting comics.
The campaign team
The Marginal Changemakers is an activist cohort focused on changing the publishing industry and creating a better environment for comics to thrive. The community will be at the centre of this change by bringing together different perspectives and shifting the mindset on how the industry treats comics. Talking Shelves is part of the Changemakers’ second campaign, Shelftalkers. In the Changemakers’ previous campaign, they created an Inclusion Charter, which publishers can sign as part of their commitment to making publishing more accessible.
‘This is a really exciting initiative, and we’re so happy to be working alongside local bookshops to spotlight marginalised comics creators. If you are a bookshop or a comic bookshop and would like to take part, you can make a display of some comics and tag us (@comics youth) on Instagram! We’d love to see your recommendations and have you share them with your customers!’
Ollie Hicks – Marginal Changemakers Project Lead
‘We’ve aimed to shine a light on comics by marginalised authors, who are often underrepresented in the comics industry. I hope that the Talking Shelves campaign can play an active role in starting conversations and educating people on the current climate within the comics industry, and how we as individuals, and as a collective, can bring change.’
Cady Ann Davies – Marginal Changemaker
