Zine Revue 11

If you read this part of my blog, you are probably a bit of a zine connoisseur yourself... or you at least have an interest in them. This week, before I get to the zines, I wanted to mention Glasgow Zine Library's current fundraiser to dramatically renovate their archive and reading room spaces. This will help make more of the collection accessible at a time, and improve their storage capacity so they can continue to collect both local and globally significant zines.

I volunteer there, and have mentioned zines I've read in their reading rooms multiple times in past zine revues. Even the small parts of the collection that are possible to display in the reading room space now represent so much variety; art, writing, photography, human expression that you often can't find anywhere else.

Volunteering in the space also makes me feel connected to the local community. So many people, from kids to adults and from all different backgrounds come in to have a free cup of tea, use the accessible toilets, take advantage of free resources like the sewing machines, printers, and art supplies in the making room, and yes, just browse zines, sometimes for the first time ever! Making the reading space more accessible, useful, and able to hold a bigger variety of zines will let the library serve the community that much more.

I love the Glasgow Zine Library, and with this funding it could just be a matter of weeks before the archive and reading room have triple the capacity they have now! If you love zines as much as I do... or even just some arbitrary lower but still respectable amount (haha), please check out the fundraiser page, see the design work that's already been done for the renovation, a swanky video about the library, and more info on what they plan to do. It's also a great time to donate because Creative Scotland is currently matching all donations made through the fundraising page, so whatever you can contribute instantly goes twice as far! It's kind of awesome...

Anyways, now for the zines! Because part of the Glasgow Zine Library renovation goal is to create more shelf space and storage that's safe for zines that diverge from the standard A5 size, I decided to focus on some minis this week!

Title: 6 Japanese Words for Taking Life Slow...

Author: Pink Spider Art

Category: Writing

This is a cute collage zines that collects a variety of Japanese figures of speech relating to the lazy life. The illustrations and explanations draw out the specificity of the phrases, which also gives new ways to think about going slow, and new strategies for making sure you find ways to.

Title: Game Zine: World One

Author: Tom Carter and Rhianna Berthoud

Category: Gaming

A collection of eight games to try irl (one is hidden in the fold-out poster and the other is hidden in an email address), which rarely require more than generic board game supplies, or just your brain. There's also a spread of the hypothetical cartridge art these games would have if they were videogames. I love how expressive and funny the illustrations are, and some of the games, like Keys and Zipz are so unique I feel like I have to try them.

Title: Eavesdrop Poetry

Author: Doruk Balci

Category: Poetry

Simple rules to inspire taking poetry from overheard conversations around you as well as some examples. I love Doruk's fun and weird zines, and I have to admit, ever since I got this one, I have been more closely noting the little bits of conversation that pass me by throughout the day...