The Word On The Street Blog

Toronto has a rich literary community with tons of places to read, buy, and talk about books! Books Around Town is a series that explores some of the city’s most popular places for book nerds to gather and share their love of reading.

We’ve already talked about the Toronto Reference Library, but there’s a special gift shop inside that we wanted to shine a spotlight right on. And that’s Page & Panel.

P&P started as a pop-up gift shop for the Toronto Comics Arts Festival (TCAF) in December 2014, but by March 2015 they turned the Reference Library into their permanent home. At P&P you can find comics, artwork, books, and related merchandise. And they have a range too! You can find your mature, dark and gritty comics like The Watchmen, but you can also find childhood favourites like Tin Tin and indie zines that cross all kinds of genres.

What’s most exciting about Page & Panel is the original and exclusive merchandise they’ve created under the sponsorship of The Beguiling and Little Island Comics. They have original pins designed by artists like Kate Beaton and Jesse Jacobs. They’ve even partnered with comic artists to create TCAF exclusive comics that you can only find at Page & Panel. Right now they have have an exclusive epilogue to Inio Asano’s graphic novel Solanin for its 10th anniversary.

If you can’t make it into the city to get yourself a pin or TCAF exclusive, you can find a small selection available on their online store with worldwide shipping. Although, it’s best to visit in person to get the full P&P experience.

They  have become the venue for author and artists signings and other comic-related events! They’ve hosted writers and artists who have been featured Toronto Comics Anthology and they even recently hosted their first ever Queer Comics Night!

So what will we find you picking up at Page & Panel?

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