News: Autumn updates & events

NEWS

• Looking for local zine scene reports!
• Looking for recommendations of DIY/activist/alternative places for a DIY Brussels tourist mini-zine I’d like to make. Write any recommendations in the comments or mail to: flapper_grrrl(at)yahoo.co.uk.
• Still working on Same Heartbeats #12 but making good progress! Might be finished in 1-2 months or even sooner.

EVENTS

Interesting zine-related events in or nearby Belgium soon:

• Atelier zines: 21-22 sept: at Chez Zelle in Louvain-la-Neuve
  (the zine scene is growing!)
• Les VoiZines x Drawing Days: 29-30 sept: at KASK in Ghent
  (Sister Ray Zines will table there and will have some FEL and ECHO zines too)
• Speaking Volumes: starting 29 sept: at ISELP in Brussels
  (a series of presentations about feminist magazines, artist publications, and zines)
• Zine Camp: 11-12 nov: at Worm in Rotterdam
  (sounds pretty awesome)
• Alternatieve Boekenbeurs: 14 april 2018 at De Koer in Ghent
  (yay, date just announced!)
• More upcoming events here

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Interesting stuff on the web: DIY research and zine resources

Another collection of useful websites, this time with a focus on DIY research and various zine-related resources. Some of these websites helped me a lot when I was writing an article on feminist perzines and others keep being of use for me as a zine writer/reader. I’m sure you’ll find them interesting too! 🙂 Check out the previous “interesting stuff on the web” posts too.

Useful resources for research:

• Libgen: books! magazines! articles! comics! All at your disposal…
• Gutenberg Project: lots of free ebooks for which the copyright has expired
• Online newspapers can be found at Krantenarchief
• Academia.edu: share and download articles and research papers
• Bibliography of research papers on zines.
• This is pretty amazing: a comic book called “Hot Pursuit” about demystifying archival research for artists that you can download and print yourself.
• I wanted to mention Sci Hub too but the website seems to have a problem at the moment… hopefully soon restored because a world opened when I discovered that website, literally a world of research papers! All accessible for free thanks to a female hacker!

Useful resources for zinesters:

• How to make a zine – a kid-friendly guide!
• Tumblr page all about queer zines and related news
• Penfight distro has a lot of resources on their website including a newsletter, zine events in the UK, a community notice board (for zine trades, etc), and other zine-related resources (distros, places, podcasts). Basicly everything a zinester could wish for!

And after you’re done checking these websites, get off the internet and make/read zines!

News: cool things coming up

ECHO NEWS

• I’m working on the zine Same Heartbeats #12 but it will still take a few months before it’s finished. For this issue I’m writing about gender identity, queer / femininity norms, Ladyfest Maastricht, and much more.
• I have some new zines for sale at Housmans radical bookshop in London. Right now they have Same Heartbeats #8, 9, and 11, and From Spice Girls to Riot Grrrls. Go check out their awesome book and zine collection!
• I’m contributing an article for the next issue of the anarchist magazine De As on feminism, but more on that soon.
• Also, more music and craft news will be revealed soooon!

EVENTS

It seems like we have an exciting autumn ahead full of feminist events in Belgium (and nearby)! Let’s start with September:

• Friday 1 September:
  Concert of Petrol Girls / Dream Nails / Cocaine Piss in Ghent organised by Girls Go Boom
• Saturday 2 September:
  FEL reading group in Ghent – we’ll read and discuss “Chavs” by Owen Jones – check out all activities of FEL here. Also consider financially supporting FEL.
• Friday 15 September:
  Concert of Baby Fire + Eve Libertine (Crass) + extra guests at Cinema Nova, in Brussels
• Wednesday 27 September:
  Last Ladyfest Brussel party (I will play tunes as DJ Dolle Nina 🙂 )
• Friday – Sunday 29 Sept – 1 Oct:
  F-word Fantastic Feminist festival in Amsterdam

A bit further ahead, on Saturday November 25th: On The Rag IV feminist festival in Liege:

Hope to see you at one of these events!

Looking for: local zine scene reports?

Mailbox at the Salford Zine Library in Manchester

I’m really curious about local zine scenes anywhere in the world, what they are like, which kind of zines are written, who is writing them, how are those zines distributed, what is the response, are there zine fests / workshops / shops / libraries / distros or other projects, are they linked to subcultures / political movements / art scenes / certain spaces, a little bit of local zine herstory/history…

Please send me your local* zine scene reports and I will publish them on this blog! I’m especially interested in a focus on feminist / poc / queer / trans / grrrl / per – zines but anything is welcome!

Mail me at flapper_grrrl@yahoo.co.uk

*You can decide on how you define “local”. It can be a city/town, country, or other geographical region.

Interesting stuff on the web: zines about making zines

Always wanted to make a zine but don’t know how and where to start? If you can’t catch a zine workshop somewhere, there exist plenty of books on this subject, but also lots of(downloadable) zines that can help you start out.

Doesn’t this prove that zinesters and zine-making are all about encouraging participation and creativity? Yes, zines really are the best! 🙂

• Igor made a mini-zine in French about making zines called Zineception and you can download it here along with their other zines.
• Olivia’s Let’s Make a Zine can be downloaded and printed on her blog.
• Penfight distro has an inspiring zine with ideas of themes about which you can make zines.
• Cherry Styles of the Salford Zine Library made this zine which is a handy guide for beginners.
• “How to make this very zine” and other tutorials are available on the website of the Barnard Zine Library
• My own meta-mini-zines in three languages (English, Dutch, French) can be found here.

Probably there’s lots more out there than what I included on this list. Let me know if there’s anything I should add.

International Zine Month 2017 round-up

International Zine Month ended yesterday. Even though I didn’t follow the activities this year, it was still a busy month. Things I did:

• I read zines
• wrote zine reviews
• traded for some excellent zines
• decorated envelopes (to send out my zines)
• helped organise a zine event: 24 hour (fan)zine workshop at Le Space in Brussels
• made a zine in 24 (and a bit) hours (called “From Spice Girls to Riot Grrrls“) during that event
• made 24 hour zine buttons
• went to Weirdo Zine Fest in London
• bought lots of zines
• sold zines to a bookshop: Housmans in London
• donated zines to the UK zine libraries project
• tidied/organised my zine collection
• registered to the new WeMakeZines
• made a new flyer

Phew!

What did you do for zine month?

Postcards at Halesworth Library, zines at Housmans and Black Cat

My postcards are now for sale in the public library in Halesworth, Suffolk, in the UK! Thanks to the librarians and volunteers, especially Alison!

The library is well worth a visit, with a brandnew junior section, a great collection of books and films, and beautiful children’s book-themed painting-games in the back garden.

If you would like to buy a postcard, mail me at flapper_grrrl@yahoo.co.uk. They are 1 euro per card + postage. Specify which design you’d like (reading cats, fireworks, or wind).

I’m currently in the process of making new designs so more news about that soon hopefully.

 

Some of my zines are currently for sale at the radical bookshop Housmans (Same Heartbeats, From Spice Girls to Riot Grrrls) and the vegan co-op café Black Cat (Letter Soup – thanks to Active Distribution), both in London. Check out these places if you’re in London and want some great food and brainfood!

Here are some other shops, distros, and libraries where you can find my zines. If you would like to stock my postcards or zines, let me know.