I got into Zines last year after getting into Bikini Kill and I’ve slowly been building my collection ever since. There are still a lot of zines that I want, but I love the ones I have and wanted to talk about them a bit! Zines are a great way to support and consume independent media and you can find ones focusing on any topic you could possible want to read about. Anyway, here are some thoughts on a couple of my favourites!
Pissing In A River
A Patti Smith Fanzine
I’ve been in love with Patti Smith for a while now so finding this in News from Nowhere on Bold Street seemed like a real bolt of luck. It’s amazing to hear other fans experiences of finding her, seeing her live and ways she’s influenced or impacted their lives. She’s such a powerful person with so much to say through her writing and music, it’s fascinating to read about the way her power has spread to so many people in so many different places.
Root-ed was the first zine I got after meeting the women behind it as an event, they were so lovely and genuine I knew a zine of their creation would be brilliant and it really is. It’s a zine made to promote, support and inspire creative people of colour in the North West so for me it’s a great way to catch up and find out about various artists in the same general area as me that I perhaps would never hear about otherwise. If you only check out one zine ever, it should be this one.
Defending Veganism, Defending Animal Rights
Gerfried Ambrosch
If you’re looking for a thought provoking read, this is the one for you. As a vegan it definitely gave me some important facts and answers for trolls on twitter and I think that for none vegans it’d be an interesting and perhaps even life changing read. Of course, it’s not for everyone, but I find it important to stay up to date with topics like this and to make sure you’re updating and informing the opinions you already have.
So they’re my zines! Let me know if you end up getting any of these, and please do leave any recommendations you have for other zines in the comments!
-Dana
Carry on Beautiful! 