What’s a zine?

Zines are self-published, small circulation booklets that are usually handmade. They’re hard to define beyond that because they vary widely in subject matter and appearance. I like graphic journalist Sarah Mirk’s definition: “any independently published, multi-page work that’s created primarily for passion, not profit.”

The important thing about zines, to me, is this: They're for everyone. They’re inexpensive and easy to make and there are no gatekeepers involved, so as a means to sharing your work they’re very democratic. On top of that, zines strip down the creative process to its simple, playful core. When you create a zine you’re opening a space for yourself to make something for the sheer joy of making it, or out of a deep need for self-expression. Or both. And I love that.

I've been making zines since 2004. My longest-running series, The La-La Theory, looked at language from a quirky, personal perspective. Others have contained memoir-style writing, interviews, poems, or lists. My zines are held in collections around the world, including Poets House in NYC; the Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science, and Art in Scranton; the Zine Archive & Publishing Project in Seattle; the Browne Popular Culture Library at Bowling Green State University; and the London College of Communication Library. 

You can buy some of my zines on my online shop over here. If you would like a copy of any of them for your library I will happily donate it. If you're another zine maker and you'd like to trade, I'd love to do that too. Just click the mail button at the top of the page to send me a note.