Calgary Expo 2026: Creating community and fantastical worlds with Dia Syed
By Hannah Caparino, May 26 2026—
Calgary Expo 2026 hosted a number of vendors in the infamous Artist Alley. Edmonton artist and author, Dia Syed came to Expo with her husband where they shared their love for multiple fandoms. Syed spoke with the Gauntlet about her art, writing her first novel and engaging with the larger Alberta community.
“We sell mixed media art, me and my husband. So we focus on anime and comic books [and] I’m also here promoting my book called The Void. It’s a newly published book and so I authored it, I self published and I created the cover.” said Syed.
At Expo, Syed shared her love for fandoms and talked about her novel The Void. What originally started as a comic book, Syed pivoted to the novel form to better portray the characters. The novel is reminiscent of fantasy novels that came before; a mysterious and headstrong protagonist, Dekani, is forced to face her past as monsters and evil seep into her world. What separates The Void from other fantasy novels, is that it uses locality to elevate the story and bring the fantasy elements home.
“I ended up writing a novel. It was everything that I thought about when I was 15 years old, kind of came to life in this novel.” said Syed, “I wanted to bring a fantasy world to Edmonton.”
The heart of both the novel and expo is community. The Void follows Dekani as she builds her community of fighters to battle the ancient evils that plague the streets of Edmonton. At expo, Syed has the ability to speak to other fans and artists with similar interests. Community is an inspiring tool for Syed, as her experience as a teacher, coach and mentor influenced the direction of her own life and her writing. Even her time at Expo was a fruitful time of meeting other local storytellers and artists.
“You get to love the community, learn from the community and just build that love around people that love the same thing. […] From a business standpoint, it builds your brand. It gets people to know who you are,” said Syed, “Just we’re all the same here and it’s really inclusive and I love it. […] It’s been really cool to see that and that’s why I truly love being a part of it [Calgary Expo] and bringing our art here and sharing it.”
Apart from the love of community both within the comic world and the novel world, Syed spoke on how exciting it is to meet new people. Calgary Expo and similar conventions give people the ability to share stories. Her story like The Void reverberates with the voice of a fan who’s loved a variety of genres and characters throughout the years, all the while creating her own community with those who love the same nerdy stories.
Information on Syed’s next convention appearance can be seen on her Instagram page. Copies of The Void can be purchased online on the Indigo website, or can be purchased in-store in select Indigo locations. The Void is also sold as a paperback or e-book on Amazon.