Pretty Good Fest 2026
Saturday, October 24th
from 11am-6pmA comics & small press fair in Chicago, IL
at The Chicago Athletic Association
12 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60603
Pretty Good Fest is a one-day festival where you can meet over 100 artists & publishers, buy limited-run books & printed artwork, and support the Chicago independent art community.
This year's festival will additionally feature special guests, programming, and more! An after-party, also at the Athletic Association, will follow the vending portion of the day.
Pretty Good Fest is free and open to the public.
Special Guests
Chris Ware
Chris Ware is an artist, writer and regular contributor to The New Yorker; his book Jimmy Corrigan – the Smartest Kid on Earth was awarded the Guardian Prize, Building Stories was chosen as a Top 10 Fiction Book and Rusty Brown a Top 100 Fiction Book by The New York Times. He has exhibited at the Whitney Museum, the MCA Chicago and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles; a traveling retrospective of his work began at the Centre Pompidou in 2022 and concluded at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània in Barcelona in Autumn 2025; it will make its only US appearance in May 2026 at the Billy Ireland Library and Museum in Columbus, Ohio.
In support of: The Acme Novelty Library #21 (Drawn & Quarterly)
Tara Booth
Tara Booth is an Eisner and Ignatz Award Winning comic artist, illustrator and painter from Philadelphia. Tara's candid autobiographical comics shed lightness and humor on issues related to mental health, addiction, and sexuality. Known for her painterly approach to comics, often using bright colors and dizzying patterns- Booth's work has been featured in publications like The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Vice, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Best American Comics. Tara loves to travel and hike with her two dogs.
In support of: Sometimes All the Time Book 1 (2dcloud)
Michael DeForge
Michael DeForge is an author and illustrator in Toronto. His published books include All The Cameras In My Room, Holy Lacrimony, Birds of Maine, Heaven No Hell, Familiar Face and Leaving Richard's Valley. His illustrations have been featured in Jacobin, The LA Times, The Walrus, and Bloomberg Business Week. He's written for SSENSE, Lux Magazine and Canadian Dimension.
In support of: All The Cameras In My Room (Drawn & Quarterly)
Exhibitor applications closed!
Applications were open until May 20th at 11:59pm CT.
We will send responses to applications mid-June. Applicants who are not immediately selected will be placed on a waitlist, which we will draw additional exhibitors from on a rolling basis thereafter.
It is free to apply! If you have any questions feel free to email us at fest@prettygoodfest.com.
Thank you, and hope to see you soon!
This year's artwork by Talya Modlin.
Pretty Good Fest is presented by Perfectly Acceptable Press.
Photography by Matthew Zhang.
