Virtual swansea zine fest 2020 contributors
ANA HINE AND FERGUS CRUIKSHANK
Hospitalised by a mental health breakdown, Ana discovers zines to organise her thoughts and reach out to a vibrant underground community of zinesters. This an intimate story of struggle to connect through art captured on an eclectic mix of formats as Ana delicately pieces her life back together.
NINA ECHOZINA
Nina is currently based in Ghent, Belgium, and has been writing zines for a long time including the feminist perzine series Same Heartbeats. She also blogs about the international zine scene and about what inspires her to create zines. She loves attending zine fests and had a great time at Swansea Zine Fest last year and hopes to be able to do more zine travel soon.
THE UPTOWN PUNK PORTRAYER POET
Established in 2018, The Uptown Portrayer Punk Poet based in Swansea gigs extensively at venues and festival throughout the UK. The subjects targeted really resonate with people, like supporting live music and venues, not fitting into conventionality, inequality, manufactured wars, and not being taken in by the media and press. Alongside a love of buses, sideburns and not forgetting skills as a poor photographer. A lot of the originals are also based around experiences of gigging, promoting and performing.
CATH ELMS
Cath is a singer-songwriter from Swansea, and one of the 3 co-organisers of Swansea Zine Fest. She writes a feminist perzine called ‘Here in my Head’ and edits various feminist pop culture fanzines including 'Sonorus: Feminist Perspectives on Harry Potter' and 'Never Kill a Boy on a First Date: A Buffy Fanzine'.
IRREGULAR ZINES
Introducing ‘Five Things I Wish I’d Learnt at School About Empire,’ a new zine about British colonial histories inspired by the activist campaign Fill In The Blanks. Available for 50p on the Irregular Zines etsy shop from Saturday 9th May - if you send a screenshot of a donation to social justice youth organisation The Advocacy Academy when you order, Eddie will put an extra surprise gift in your envelope!
JADE MARS
Jade Mars is a zinester, poet, workshop facilitator and witch, based in Brighton, UK. They write the perzine series Scorpio Moon and are the editor of Aspects of Uranus: a queer astrology zine; they have also published three small poetry zines: Moss Fur, gay4nature, and Deep Lez Dirt Feelz.
KIRSTY ROWLES
Kirsty writes the zine series Forever Incomplete about mental health, gay stuff, fandom, and trying to be an adult. She also co-edits Sonorus a popular zine series of feminism in Harry Potter. Her interests include exactly 3 TV shows, talking and writing about her feelings, and fictional lesbians.Her unhealthy behaviours of choice are coffee and self-doubt.