Over Here Zine Fest……

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IS HAPPENING THIS SATURDAY 13TH OCTOBER 11am -5pm!!!!

And I’m shouting because I’m very excited about it.

The whole day is a celebration and to showcase work by POC/Black/Asian/BAME creatives and to TAKE UP SPACE.

We will have over 40 stalls with printed matter, including zines, art prints and postcards.

A pop up Zine library from the folks at Salford Zine Library.

A digital art installation, Heritage Carrot. Zine readings and talks, workshops and more.

All are welcome, come support creatives of colour, learn a new skill, and submerge yourself into the world of DIY self publishing.

For full information and timings of the day, see our programme HERE.

Seeds Of Change – Sunday reading special

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by Seleena

 

Over the summer I was working on a project with The International Slavery Museum in Liverpool alongside their young ambassador program.

The project was to create a zine for the museum and The Sankofa Project alongside young ambassador .

It was such fun and inspiring zine to work on. I got to sit in on interviews conducted by oral historian Christine Holt, with 5 Liverpool based female community activists. From youth workers, to carnival producer, film maker and more.

Hearing about their life stories, where they have come from to where they are now, what they do and the passion they have for it was so great to hear. I left each interview wanting to do more for my community and keep on doing it.

Together, with a summary of each interview written by Lois, and brilliant visual minutes by Claire Stringer, I got to compile Seeds of Change with some added extras like maps of Liverpool, a timeline and how you ca help your community.

I got to showcase the zine at the museum last week for Slavery Remembrance Day.

That event, the zine and all the interviews reminded me about the importance of taking up space and also taking cultural production into our own hands.

You can pick up a copy of the zine for free at The International Slavery Museum Liverpool and read more about the Sankofa Project Here!

Top ten things you need to make a zine…..

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As International Zine month draws to a close, so does the deadline for applying to table at Over Here Zine fest.

Some of you may have stumbled across us because you want to know more POC/BAME zine makers, perhaps you’ve just discovered zines and want to know more, or maybe you’re a long time zine reader but never managed to make a zine yourself!

Well what follows are the top ten things you need to be able to make your first zine….

1. An idea.

Probably the hardest part to making a zine, coming up with an idea. That’s because the possibilities are endless. Maybe you want to make a perzine (a personal zine that is all about you!) an art zine, a comic zine, a zine full of interviews, a fanzine about your favourite thing!
Like I said, endless.
I’ve made zines about race, class, my favourite TV show, favourite band and crisps.
Zines can take a while to make, so make sure you pick an idea that you can get enthused by!

2. Paper, a pen and scissors.

That’s right, you don’t need any fancy equipment to make a zine, for a one page zine all you need is a piece of paper (A4 is a good start) a pen and some scissor…..

3. Determination.

As I said above, sometimes zines can take a while to make. Either due to lack of motivation, time or confidence. Zines are a passion project for me and should always be fun, or useful and not a chore. Holding a finished zine in your hands is a great feeling though, so keep going!

4. A reason.

If you are struggling to finish a zine or lack the determination then having a reason to make your zine will give you that extra push.
Maybe you are talking about a personal subject that means a lot to you or share a tough time you’ve been through and how you got through it, to help others. Maybe you just want to shout about the thing you love and find like minded people.
Maybe you want a way to get your art out there, stories, poems, illustrations, photos, whatever, a zine is the perfect way to do that uncompromised.
I started out just making zines to send to a couple of friends about stuff I love, and now 19 years later, I’m still making them!

5. An understanding of the four times table.

If you are making a zine bigger than one piece of paper, then thinking in multiples of four is a great help.
Say you wanted to make an A5 zine, you need to work from an A4 basis.
for example My zine I have made has 20 individual A5 pages including front and back cover, so I need to work from 5 pieces of A4 paper is 20 divided by 4 is 5.
If I had 22 individual A5 pages and I went to collate, I would end up with 2 blank pages as 22 does not divide by 4!

6. Encouragement.

I know when I am struggling to finish a zine, if i shout about it to friends and give it the hard sell, prior to that, then they will encourage me telling me all about how they can’t wait to read it. So give your yet to be made zine the hard sell, whether to mates or all over the internet.
If you don’t manage to make the zine, it’s fine , you are your own zine boss!

7.Less Skills than you think you need.

Zines can be made on a computer, through various programmes, that’s’ great and often the best way for some people, for me however I find it harder! I’m not the best at grasping how technology works.
I also love being able to make stuff with the resources and skills you have readily available to you. I enjoy skill sharing and getting people to believe they ca be creative and create something despite their ‘lack of skills’
You don’t need to be able to drawer, that’s’ why collage exists! Not a professional writer? Doesn’t matter! Don’t know how to use Photoshop? me either, I do however know how to use scissors and glue.
Making computer based zines is more accessible for some people, I just like to debunk myths that you need a plethora of skills to make a zine.

8. Cut n Paste skills

The only skill required for a DIY zine! Like I mentioned above, a pair of scissors and some glue are your friend when making a zine. you get t work out your layout manually and see how thing look.
Cut n paste can be messy, but its also tonnes of fun!

9. Ability to ask for help.

Maybe you’re stuck for ideas, or suck at using scissors and a glue stick. Perhaps you do want cool illustrations, but can’t do that, or want to learn a new skill, be it writing, drawing, Photoshop or a printing method.
Seek out a seasoned zinester, or a zine group online and ask away.

10. Have fun.

Remember, it’s not a class assignment, it’s not a stressful work project, it’s something for you to enjoy and be proud of and show the world (or just your bff!)

If you have any questions about zines drop us an email overherezinefest[at]gmail[dot]com or Instagram and Twitter @overherezinefest

 

 

Brown Girls taking up space

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Artwork by Alison Erika Forde.

“My name’s Seleena and I am brown.

I don’t know why I decided to write this zine and I don’t really think it has any point/theme/reason behind it aside from the fact I quite fancied writing about being a brown girl”

I wrote that in January 2014 for the introduction to my new zine Brown Girl.
In late summer 2013 I decided I was going to make a zine called Brown Girl and it would be all about me.
Sort of like a perzine*.
Only I’ve always made fanzines that just happen to have a lot of me personally in them.

The first issue was a bit of a mish mash and was written entirely by me, with pieces about friends, family, music, hair, rants, my art and being a black weirdo.
I was a little nervous putting it out, even though it wasn’t a hugely deeply personal account of my life, but I guess one I have never fully documented in a zine, my blackness.

The zine was well received and even though I was unsure about it as a whole and its coherency I felt proud to be taking up space, a space so often taken up by white people. Perzines, zines, writing, self-publishing, think pieces all stuff that has a super white face.

It spurred me on to make two more issues.

Issue 2 came out in May 2015 and featured contributions from a bunch of friends. Which I thought was a great idea to break up my voice and also by this point I think I’d decided I wanted to make Brown Girl more like a Black magazine zine than a perzine, its featured Art by others, pieces on food and calling out, band profiles, great organisations and reviews of books, music, films and exhibitions.

I was aiming to make an issue a year and be a round up of thoughts, opinions and a celebration of brown girls, queer punks and black weirdos.

Sadly 2016 came and went but I managed to get Brown Girls 3 out in July 2017.

The biggest and I think best issue to date.

It had a bunch of contributions again, alongside reviews of shows, books, plays and TV, pieces I’d written on tap dance, language and sexuality, some of my art, a conversation between me and two friends about being mixed race and even a couple of interviews (with musician, dancer and writer Brontez Purnell and artist and zine maker Saffa Khan)

Despite being the most ‘magazine’ like on paper, it is my most personal to date, with me speaking honestly about being mixed race and also speaking openly for the first time about my sexuality.

It’s the issue I am most proud of.

I am currently working on issue 4, slowly but surely.

The existence of Over Here Zine Fest is spurring me on. I want to be in a room full of zines like Brown Girl and zines not at all like Brown Girl, but zines all made by POC.

I just want to see Brown Girls Taking up Space.

 

 

 

*A perzine stands for personal zine and is usually mostly about the person writing it as opposed to a zine about another subject matter. More like a diary zine.

 

Seleena

Shotgun Seamstress

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One of my favourite zines of all time is Shotgun Seamstress.

 

Shotgun Seamstress was started in 2009 by then member of the band New Bloods and now amazing potter, Osa Atoe.
It is a fanzine by, for and about black punks. Issue 1-6 were compiled into a book in 2012 and since then Osa has made 2 and half more Shotgun Seamstresses.

It’s much more than a zine about black punks (although that in itself is pretty amazing) it’s a zine all about how being black is punk and how black people need DIY culture, it’s a call to arms and a reminder of how great every black, queer, feminist, misfit, artist, weirdo really is.

It’s about taking up space within subcultures that are infiltrated by white people (punk and the world of zines) but also taking up space in doing things that aren’t ‘meant’ for black people like playing punk and creating art.

Each issue is packed full of interviews, reviews, personal stories and hidden gems of black punks, queers and artists such as Brontez Purnell, The Gories, Poly Styrene, Ru Paul, Trash Kit, Vaginal Crème Davis, ESG, Marsha P Johnson, Former band mate Adee Roberson and many more.

This was the zine that inspired me to make my zine series Brown Girl. I wanted to write about being a punk of colour, I wanted to take up space and I wanted to talk about the things I love.

I urge anyone to read Shotgun Seamstress, buy the book, find a zine, read back issues online just immerse yourself in black DIY culture.
you won’t regret it.

Seleena