How do you condense ten years into a brief introduction?
Glasgow Zine Fest (GZF) has had multiple iterations, across so many venues. A one day fair in a music venue with first-come firstserved tables has grown into a multi day, fully programmed festival in one of Glasgow’s busiest art centres.
In between these two points, we split our festival across two venues (a bad idea), sprawled through the city (a worse idea), transported all of the zine fair tables on our backs, and put the full festival online last minute during a pandemic. The early years of zine fest relied on the kindness of those able to give us their time and talent, allowing us to build the foundation for something that has eventually become the flagship event for a much larger community arts organisation, Glasgow Zine Library.
This year’s festival takes the themes we’ve dealt with over the last ten years and asks, “Where are we going, and what do we do now?” Can we be slow, intentional, lo-fi, temporal, restful, and analogue, while responding to changes in technology that give us greater access to each other and more ways of making.
Can we resist the culture of the personal brand and the curated self and defend the practice of making for the sake of it, the power of anonymity and experimentation, the just getting on and doing it, the unedited and the often, the half finished, the act of defining, on our own terms, what is good and important?
This year’s programme echoes these questions and we look forward to seeing the discussions and connections that emerge. For more on the last ten years and what’s next, make sure you check out our So Far So Good exhibition open in Intermedia over the festival weekend.
Here’s to ten years!
Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th July
11am-5pm*
Theatre
Not our 8th. Not our 9th. But our TENTH zine fair, where over 50 makers from across Scotland and the universe join us to showcase, sell and swap their zines, prints, merch and more. To celebrate a decade of DIY, we welcome a whole host of new tablers to the fair, along with the ever-growing community of makers and collectors who come together to make this event so special.
*11am-12pm
This is an accessible hour for those with mobility needs or those who may have difficulty in large crowds.
12-5pm Open to all
Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th July
11am-9:30pm
Clubroom
Alongside Glasgow Zine Fest events, there is a free unticketed quiet space in the Clubroom. This space has soft lighting, low noise levels and comfortable seating. There will be a range of resources available that you may find supportive, including ear defenders, stimming toys, colouring books, zines to read and zine-making equipment.
This space is for anyone to use who would benefit from a quiet space away from the busyness of the festival. It can be used for a range of purposes, including rest, respite, reflection or feeding.
There will be clear signage within CCA to direct you to the quiet space, or please ask a team member for assistance.
Saturday 8th July
2-4pm
Creative Lab
BPOC Only
Tangible things are fast disappearing. Information that was once stored on paper is now stored digitally. The push and pull between paper, and its reassuring qualities is heightened in our increasingly transient society.
- Savinder Bual, 9 Notes
Do our digital memories become more emotive when they’re not accessed through touching screens?
How does it feel to select specific memories from the abundance of media on our devices?
How does it feel to project, play out loud and exhibit our personal media?
In this workshop, we will learn how to use conductive ink to make an interactive zine that takes the digital memories from our phones and places them into the world around us, through paper, projections and sound.
Saturday 8th July 2-4pm Online
In this mini zine making workshop we’ll use this space to explore and discuss ideas around internet culture. We will use the zine format to play with the ways we as people, artists, designers, makers, activists respond to disseminating ideas and radical thought in the age of the internet.
You will need to bring your own materials - paper, scissors, pens - and any of your favourite craft materials (e.g zine making things, felt tips, collage materials, pritt stick etc). If you need help getting hold of these materials, get in touch with us at glasgowzinelibrary@gmail.com.
Saturday 8th July
2:30-4:30pm
Cinema
Ages 7+
Join Jenny and Annie from hit podcast Stories of Scotland as they share some of their favourite legends, myths, and traditional stories from the Highlands and Islands retold through a queer lens. With the style of warm storytelling that you would expect in front of a fire in a rural bothy, Jenny and Annie give their own rainbow twist to some fascinating lore.
A family friendly romp with tales to make you laugh and cry at the wonders of queer fairies, selkies, ghosts and more.
Through these tales, we transport the audience to the cold North seas, the majestic mountains, and some unsuspecting Highlands villages.
It’s howling, haunting, and great craic.
Saturday 8th July 5:30-7pm
Creative Lab
Ages 16+
Explore the masculine spectrum of the art of drag in this bite-sized workshop with Glasgow’s master of metamorphosis, drag king Dorian T. Fisk.
Get ready to learn:
A short history of drag king artistry
An intro to creating a stereotypical masculine face and body illusion with makeup and movement
This is a beginner-level workshop focusing on the performance of masculinity and open to people of any gender. There will be interactive demos and DIY activities - full participation is highly encouraged but not mandatory.
Check the website for what you need to bring with you!
8:30-9:30pm
Saturday 8th
Cinema & Online
Join us for a set by award-winning comedian Josie Long!
Josie is a writer and a stand up comedian. They write about what they care about, and their shows are friendly and silly. They also run a thing called Alternative Reality Tour that focuses on politics and social justice. Their current projects are a micro budget feature film, a radio series, and a baby.
Sunday 9th July
11am-12:10pm LGBTQ+ only
4:30pm-5:40pm BPOC only
Creative Lab
Ages 14+
Slow down, you’re going too fast. Take a breath, it’s ok. There’s time. We’ve made time. We will always make time.
Take off those heavy shoes. Lie down, get comfortable, let your body sink into the ground. Tune in or tune out. Think free, let it pass, be light and float… off to sleep, to dreamland. Centre yourself, ground, floor, soft, relax. Listen, but lightly, smell, breathe in… 2 3 4, breathe out 2 3 4. Embrace, hold space, for your gut, your mind, your eyes, your eyes, your feet, your hands. Join Roo for a moment of rest.
Sunday 9th July 11am-12:30pm
Woodlands Community Garden
117 West Princes Street, G4 9BY
In this workshop, we will take time to slowly wander, rest, spend time with and collectively learn from and with the plants and non-human kin who live in the Woodlands Community Garden. We will share knowledge about the plants that we meet, their herbal properties, histories and the abundance of stories that they hold.
We will also take time to creatively respond to the environment, writing down our thoughts, feelings and responses to the natural world as we go. Moving with a gentle pace, we will all try to slow down to tune into our senses, to observe and to notice. We will practise ‘journalling’ together, as a method of recording and building our relationships with nature.
CONTENT WARNING: Possible references to colonialism and capitalism as forces that have estranged us from nature - but no graphic detail or violence mentioned.
So much comes in waves, joy, misery, pleasure, nausea, illness, laughter. This workshop will explore what it might mean and look like to use waves as a shaping device for writing, as opposed to the convention of a narrative arc. This exploration will be made up of discussion, examples and writing exercises. Participants may come with a project in mind that they can apply this thinking to, or use the exercises and material provided to start creating something entirely new. This workshop has stemmed from experiences of disability and chronic illness and so examples of how a wave structure might be used will refer to this background, however, the workshop will still be applicable and useful to those with a variety of different experiences outside of chronic illness and disability.
CONTENT WARNING: There will be discussion of chronic illness
We can censor, content warn, or hide them behind a velvet curtain, but no matter what we choose, erotic and pornographic content will remain a part of our society. This workshop will discuss and interrogate how the more risqué items of a zine (or any) collection can be handled, maintained and accessible. Participants will get “handsy” with real examples and lively discussions about how to fit these items into their collection.
This workshop is for people who are sex positive and pro-porn.
Join A+E for a hands-on workshop that practices slowness as an act of resistance.
“On the juice of Plumbago auriculata the lavender and violet rays produced a pale brown image; the indigo rays had no effect, while all the rest of the image under the mean and least refrangible rays was blue and indigo.”
- Mary SomervilleAmid the mass consumption of images and the permanent carbon cost of data storage, the anthotype represents a more transient and precarious form of artistic production and expression. In tune with GZF’s DIY spirit, we’ll experiment with sunlight, stencils and temporalities of exposure to create ephemeral letters to the future through images which cannot be ‘fixed’. Layered with the atmospheric, chemical phenomena of the present these letters will become quiet and intimate acts of care and resistance.
Sunday 9th July
1:30-2:45pm
Intermedia
A workshop for anyone interested in storytelling through comics, no experience needed. We’ll look at comic zines from the Glasgow Zine Library’s collection, collaborate on comics together, and make our own mini comics.
Materials will be provided, but feel free to bring your own!
Sunday 9th July
3-4:30pm
Cinema & Online
A selection of short films made by the wonderfully creative members of the GZF community. They invite us to consider what we do with our time and at what pace.
Collectivity, muses, nature bonding, remedies, speculative futures and revenge exhale into this vast range of films that span documentary, animation and experimental forms. This screening will also showcase the film outcome of GZL’s Secrets of DIY Animation course!
There will be a 10 minute interval during this screening. Please see the website for full film listings.
This screening will take place in CCA Cinema on the Sunday, but will also be available online for the duration of the festival upon request.
Sunday 9th July 3-4:15pm Online
With the proliferation of social media, internet memes have become a ubiquitous part of everyday communication. However, the power of memes cannot be fully understood without taking into account their connection to the political and cultural landscape where they are made and the lives of the people who make them. This talk will share global examples of memes in different languages to illustrate the roles they play in youth’s civic engagement around the world.
Glasgow Zine Library aims to be a safe space for all visitors, staff members, and volunteers. All staff members, volunteers and visitors must agree to follow our Safer Spaces Policy :
• Discrimination against anyone on the grounds of: gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, disability, religion, class, survivor status, HIV status, body size or any protected characteristic will not be permitted.
• Do not make assumptions about the identity of others.
• Use the pronouns that others indicate as theirs.
• Be empathetic and don’t assume your physical and emotional boundaries are the same as others.
• Abusive behaviour will not be tolerated. If you experience, witness, or are aware of any abusive behaviour by an individual(s) within our space, please inform a member of GZF staff, who will address it.
Some of the zines featured in the Zine Fair and programmed events may cover potentially distressing topics. We are working to ensure that these topics are indicated, however this is not a guarantee.
This year’s festival takes place in person and online. Please make sure to purchase the correct type of ticket as we may not be able to make any corrections. We can only accept refunds within 72 hours or more of the event.
Before all events you will be sent an email reminding you of the event details and sharing any additional information or resources you need in order to participate.
You can book tickets on the day but please be aware that our events are likely to sell out in advance so we encourage you to book early.
If you have any questions please email glasgowzinelibrary@gmail.com
What is Pay-What-You-Can, and how much should I pay?
We use a Pay What You Can (PWYC) sliding scale ticketing system for all programming unless otherwise stated. You can choose to pay £0-12 for all events.
Please be honest with yourself and your financial situation. If you purchase a ticket at the lowest end of the scale when you could afford the higher ticket prices, it makes it harder for us to provide financial flexibility to those who need it.
If you have booked a ticket and can no longer attend, please let us know as soon as possible so we can offer your space to others who wish to attend.
£0/£2
• I frequently stress about meeting my basic needs and don’t always achieve them.
• I live in low-rent housing or have unstable housing.
• I am unemployed or underemployed or on benefits.
• I access foodbanks and other voluntary sector support.
• I can’t always afford transport, have no access to savings and have very limited expendable income.
• I rarely buy new items because I am unable to afford them and cannot take holidays or time off.
£4/£6/£8
• I sometimes stress about meeting my basic needs but mostly achieve them.
• I have some expendable income and can sometimes save.
• I am employed.
• I can afford public transport and/or petrol.
• I have access to health care.
• I can sometimes take holidays.
£10/£12
• I can comfortably meet all of my basic needs and have expendable income.
• I own my home or rent a higher-end property.
• I can afford a car or private transport.
• I have access to healthcare, savings and holidays.
*BASIC NEEDS include food, housing, clothing and transportation.
**EXPENDABLE INCOME might mean you are able to buy coffee or tea at a shop, go to the cinema or a concert, buy new clothes, books and similar items each month, etc.
Glasgow Zine Fest predominantly takes place in CCA, a wheelchair accessible venue with disabled toilets. A variety of seating options will be available throughout the venue.
For information about venue accessibility at the CCA please visit their website: www.cca-glasgow.com/accessibility
For events taking place at Woodlands Community and the Millenium Park, please see the relevant event page for further information.
All in-person and online talks will include live closed captioning and BSL interpretation.
All online workshops will feature automated live captioning via Otter. ai, with live closed captioning and BSL available upon request. All inperson workshops will have BSL available upon request.
Any films shown as part of the programme will include captions, audio description and have availability of a closed induction loop.
Text-only, audio and BSL versions of the GZF23 programme are available on our website.
All access requests can be made while booking via Eventbrite or you can contact glasgowzinelibrary@gmail.com. We will do our best to meet any requests but please know we are more able to meet requests made at least two weeks in advance. We may be in touch with you directly to discuss certain requests.
Please contact glasgowzinelibrary@gmail.com if you have any questions or feedback about accessibility at our events.
