When disaster occurs, most post-apocalyptic media shows stories of lone survivors struggling against one another to survive a world where society has broken down. Whereas, in reality, hardships make communities come together to build new (and often stronger!) ways of living together. Life Finds A Way explores the many ways that people show bravery, adaptability, and love for one another after the end of the world. These stories have new meaning in our current times of instability and dystopia, and this program will discuss how this book launching in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic brought a new relatability to stories of hope in a time that feels hopeless.
Location: Sunroom/Gallery, UBC Robson Square
Sponsored by: Word Vancouver · Cloudscape Comics
Participants: Daniel Anctil & Alina Pete (editors), Life Finds A Way, Comics Anthology (Cloudscape Comics)
About The Participants
Daniel Anctil
Daniel Anctil has always wanted to make a children’s book, and now he has two to his name! Daniel published a childhood poem about local animals in his first work Fly Fly, he then took an entirely different tack and wrote about seeking and befriending mythological creatures in Monster Friends, Where Are You?. As his first foray into comics he proposed to his friend (and comicker) Alina Pete that they should do a comic anthology about Hopeful Post-Apocalyptic Stories called "Life Finds a Way" with the help of Cloudscape Comics. Fascinated with the arts of storytelling and word-smithing, he is always trying to find new ways to spin a tale worth telling. When he isn't finding new things to get excited about he lives in Vancouver and looks forward to rainy days.
Alina Pete
Alina Pete is an award-winning nehiyaw (Cree) comic artist and author from Little Pine First Nation in Saskatchewan. They blend comic art with traditional storytelling techniques to create engaging, informative comics that engage the broader community. Their work has been published internationally, and examines such topics such as truth and reconciliation, mental health, language reclamation, and ending gender-based violence. Their vision is to carry the flame of learning so that Indigenous youth can build a sustainable future that weaves tradition and technology.
As part of this vision, Alina works as a mentor to guide the next generation of emerging Indigenous cartoonists as part of the Indigenous Comic Creators Program with the National Museum of the Native American. They are a multi-disciplinary creator, working in comics, animation, VFX and VR. Alina lives and works on the unceded lands of the Kwantlen, Musqueam, Katzie, Semiahmoo, Tsawwassen, Qayqayt, and Kwikwetlem peoples.
