Between our last update, and this blog, I am sad to report that we experienced the passing of legendary editor of A Short Fanzine About Rocking: Nick Mann. Nick's long‐running, well respected fanzines went way back, as I remember his fanzines being mentioned on the radio in the early 2000s: they were stocked in the great Banquet Records in Kingston, and SW Zines regularly carried and sold Nick's zines at events around London. In Nick, zines have lost real heart and soul. There are plans to carry on celebrating Nick's zines, including through archive work, so expect blog updates here and elsewhere about this.
I feel it more important than ever to be involved in zines and be active about zines. There are still so many opportunities to introduce people to zines and open up that world of freedom, expression, understanding, inspiration, of giving everyone a platform; a voice. It has long been a dream to instigate a zine fair in a public library in SW London, and now it is, at last, a reality. I'm excited to report that we have booked a cosy corner of Wimbledon public library to host our first zine fair!
Joining us will be:
- A fanzine writer and poet from the 70s punk era
- A graduate/artist from Wimbledon College of Arts
- An amazing, positive, and inspiring recovery advocate
- A music (fan)zine writer of 20 years
... amongst many other brilliant, creative people. We are also hoping to be joined by The Feminist Library (London). We will have a rare array of zines from the last of Marching Stars Distro's stock, as they are about to close down.
We have carefully planned a wide range of ephemera, including: perzines (personal zines), music zines, travel zines, poetry zines, art zines, gardening/eco zines, and more, with library visitors in mind. We want to introduce you to zines if they are new to you, and libraries seem an ideal environment.
Since it happens to be World Vegan Month, we will be giving away free vegan sweets. In addition, there will be a table of vegan and vegetarian zines and information to inspire.
The setting is a Victorian public library, dating back to 1886, from the arts and crafts era, so there is also chance to enjoy the space, and appreciate the library stock.
Our extremely grateful thanks to the artist Lisa Stockley, for her creation of our official zine fair poster, resplendent with merry wombling! She would love to be paid for art commissions, so do check out her website.
Any questions, ideas, suggestions, or to RSVP, please just get in touch!