Zine-Making Retreat

From facilitator Robin Gow: The first zine I ever held was at The Wooden Shoe, an anarchist bookstore in Philadelphia. I was drawn to the shelf of zines for their uniqueness and grungy covers. I was nineteen and the zine I picked up was about the hanky code, a code for signaling queer desires, and I remember feeling exhilarated. I had never read something so intimate and raw and full of information I couldn’t have found elsewhere. That moment was so emblematic of what zines represent. The ability to share ideas and information untethered by publishing gatekeepers or an imperative to be “polished.” An opportunity for authentic connection in a world gripped by the pressures of capitalism.

There is a reason why this art form has persisted in social justice spaces. The zine is a vessel for our wildest dreams, desires, fears, critiques, and confessions to find welcoming listeners and curious comrades. In this retreat we’ll dig into the queer, feminist, and BIPOC roots of zine culture and explore what it means to create a zine practice for ourselves.