The Massachusetts Book Awards are annual awards given by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. The ‘Notable Contribution to Publishing‘ award considers the quality of the book as object—including production standards, design, and printing and goes to a Massachusetts publisher creating works of a high caliber. 

The second annual Notable Contribution to Publishing Prize went to Somerville-based Bulgilhan Press’ Slices of Life: A Comic Montage, by Qu. This graphic novel is a masterful collection of silent comics reveling in the quiet beauty of the small moments in life.

It’s been a real surprise and honor to see that Qu’s Slices of Life: A Comic Montage has not only received amazing widespread recognition, but also gained a much broader readership than we could have imagined. As an independent publisher, each release only occurs due to the monumental effort of very few people; the artists I have the privilege of publishing and I are forever intertwined by our shared love of comics and our labor. We’re over the moon for Qu’s work to be recognized with the second Notable Contribution to Publishing prize from the Massachusetts Book Awards, proving that one should approach their life with an open and curious mind.

-Zachary Clemente, publisher and founder of Bulgilhan.

Zachary Clemente contributes to the Massachusetts comics ecosystem in so many ways — as the past Co-Director of the MICE, as the publisher of Bulgilhan, and as the Chair of the Board for the Boston Comic Arts Foundation. We’re lucky to have him here, championing our comics community. 

-Shelli Paroline, BCAF Executive Director