International Zine Month

We are so excited to celebrate our first International Zine Month since starting our Zine collection. Zines are self-published works which can be about anything, by anyone, and as formal or informal as the creator desires. They are an accessible medium with a great amount of freedom and often favoured by communities who have often been side lined by mainstream publishing.  

We want to take a moment to appreciate how in a few months, our zine collection has inspired the University of Wolverhampton community and has grown with it. 

Zine Workshops – an opportunity to create zines as a means of expression 

One of our aims in starting the zine collection was the potential of community engagement therefore have been thrilled to be able to participate, support and even run workshops. 

• “Compassionate Cuppa” held a zine workshop in Harrison library as part of the activities for Mental Health Awareness Week in May.  
• The School of Illustration ran a zine-making workshop for Inspiring Black Country creatives at the start of July 
• The Library are running a zine-making workshop for South Asian Heritage Month on July 23rd, 12-2pm at Harrison library.  

If you have any suggestions for zine activities please let us know. 

Zine Donations 

Our generous community has also been sharing their zines with us allowing us to create a dedicated Locally Made shelf. Donations have come direct from workshops or from those who are just part of the community. 

 A sample of those zines on the shelf are: 

• Brum Library Zine – a zine promoting the use of libraries in Birmingham following the news the council was planning on brutally cutting public library funding. 

• Wolf Zine – a photo zine with photos taking across Wolverhampton 

• Meme-ory Lane 1 and Meme-ory Lane 2 – a fun little handmade comic zine depicting all sorts of internet memes the creator enjoyed. 

We have also been gifted zines from creators further afield who have discovered our collection: 

• You Love Libraries Zine – made by creators at Portsmouth University UK & Colorado College USA 

• A collection of Sheer Spite press zines – all the way from Tiohtià:ke / Montreal, Canada. 

We have been overwhelmed by appreciation for the zine community near and far, and hope to celebrate our zine collection throughout International Zine Month via our social media accounts.