I spent this past Saturday at the East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest. This was my third zines and alternative publishing event this fall, and it was definitely worth the trip. The festival was lively and packed with  more than 80 talented artists and writers, and it was very well attended, and even those people who didn’t purchase anything from me were fun to talk to. My table was between two very cool independent publishers, author Ian Kahl (writer and publisher of anxiety is a rambling dagger) and cartoonist Nancy Husari, whose comic broadsides are laugh-out-loud funny. While the event wasn’t packed with African American folks, there was a nice diversity of both artists and attendees. This tall, slim guy lingered at one of the tables across the way from me. I think he was friends with the sellers. His boyish face was a interesting contrast with his height. If he wasn’t so tall and so very self-possessed, he could easily have passed for 14,

Ajuan Mance