April was the month of Glasgow Zine Fair! Plaintext Distro tabled digitally, and after printing and shipping costs was able to make a donation to Remade Network, which teaches repair skills, refurbishes tech for the Glasgow community, and distributes free PCs to isolated individuals as well as local social initiatives. Thank you to everyone who made our first digital zine table a huge success, and if you're reading this let me know when your pack of zines reaches you!
I don't know when Plaintext will next table, either online or in person, but I'm excited to keep distributing this work and also take on new work. Definitely sign up to the newsletter linked on the site if you're curious about staying up to date on it.
Of course, the best part of a zine fair is not selling your own work, but getting to see a ton of other work! Here are some brief blurbs on the zines I picked up during the fair:
SYNDROME (A Reader) - at Sticky Fingers: This is a very slickly-designed poster and booklet with a fascinating meditation on the language of syndromes, bodies and wellness.
60 Second Pokemon Squad & Autumn Things - at Forever Temporary Press: I loved these two mini-zines of classic pokemon drawn from memory, and lovely impressions and associations with Autumn. Plus the order came with some lovely handmade recycled envelopes!
Lucid Chronicles I-III - at Team Trident Press: I love both the design and content of these very clever 1-sheet riso zines. Each booklet contains an evocative text about a dream environment that folds out to an illustration. They're very inspiring, both in terms of their content and as objects.
打工仔 ／ WORK WORK WORK - by Rachel Lau: This is a very interesting zine about Chinese overwork culture (which is comparable to the pressure to overwork, well, everywhere), which combines with some practical strategies for time theft and zine-making in the workplace. >:) hehe
Cats I've Known and Loved - at Our Victory Line: The type of data I am most interested in is A) names of cats and B) the colors and patterns of those cats and this mini-zine delivers.
Midnight Drumbeat & The Day The Mountains Move - at Stainperfect: These are some beautiful riso zines printed in unique and delicate ways. The first is a personal narrative comic and the second is a beautifully presented bilingual version of Japanese feminist poetry.
The Abolition of Work & So Unsexy - at Pen Fight Distro: Both of these zines are good cures for both the hustle culture and beauty culture (and hustle-beauty culture, haha) that seem to provoke people who should know better (including myself, sometimes) to locate a particular virtue in aggressive norm conformity.
Overall, it was an amazing selection of tables, and I had trouble making up my mind and deciding on these zines, but I'm also really glad I did!
I have been busy over the past few weeks which is why I've been scarce. Unfortunately it generally means a lot of freelance related admin stuff and not too much of the money actually hitting my bank account yet. I turn 30 in a few weeks and wrap up a big project that pays decently well around that time so I hope I can give myself a bit of time off then, to read more and also work on my own creative projects.