swansea zine fest 2021 contributors
WORKSHOPS AND SPEAKERS
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ARTISTS RESPONDING TO
Polly from ARTISTS RESPONDING TO Zine will be talking about zines as a platform for activism. ARTISTS RESPONDING TO... is a monthly publication which uses creative depictions and literature to highlight current world issues, news and movements that aren't getting the attention that they deserve. ARTISTS RESPONDING TO… includes an eclectic range of fine art and literature, from drawings, paintings, sculptures, digital art, photography, essays, poems, and much more!
www.artistsrespondingto.co.uk
BCH COMIX
BCH Comix speaks to the human conditions of life, loneliness, and how our upbringings can echo throughout our lives - all presented with a tongue n' cheek hilarity pulled from the random events of creator BluRaven C Houvener's life!
CHLOE HENDERSON
Chloe Henderson is an Edinburgh-based illustrator, filmmaker, zine-maker, and jeweller who makes art inspired by the natural world, mythological creatures, faerytales, nerd culture, and the radical idea that humans should be kind to every living thing. They make zines inspired by their experiences with anxiety, love, feminism, geocaching, and cats. Chloe will be presenting a tutorial video that demonstrates how illustrators can create zines to showcase and promote their work.
COIN-OPERATED PRESS
Coin-Operated press is an artist-led organisation based in Scotland and run by zine-makers Katie Mayes and Chloe Henderson. May is Coin-Operated Press' first birthday, so they'll be hosting a 'video party' talking about their love for zines, how CoinOp came to be, and combining that all with showing how to make a mini zine for a special occasion!
www.coinoperatedpress.com
EDINBURGH ZINE LIBRARY
Edinburgh Zine Library is a collectively run, independent DIY zine library currently hosted by the Art and Design Library at Edinburgh Central Library. Established in 2017, they have a collection of 300 contemporary zines from Scotland and beyond. They will be showcasing the library and some of the zines in their collection.
http://edinburghzinelibrary.com/
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ELERI BUFF
Eleri is a welsh MA Visual Culture student, activist, and writer, who will be discussing zine-making as an anti-capitalist act of resistance. Primarily interested in queer, feminist theory, fashion and cinema, Eleri's work has touched upon a number of topics including independent professional wrestling, emo culture and lobsters. She is also 1/2 of fashion and culture blog Crusty Debs, which she runs with her best butty Gethin Quartz. You can also read Eleri's handmade zines in our zinefest grab bag!
https://crustydebs.wixsite.com/crustydebs
ELIETE DELLA VIOLLA
Eliete is a graphic designer, visual artist, author and poet from Sorocaba, Brazil. She investigates alternative and non usual printing techniques such as mimeograph, dot matrix printer, stencil and handmade stamps made by using daily objects. Eliete will be delivering a workshop on the mimeograph (also known as spirit duplicator, ditto or rone machine), which is a low-cost and obsolete duplicator/printer that can be used for zines, prints, and art experiments. This workshop has been delivered in many Brazilian cities between 2019-2020.
https://elietedellaviolla.com/
HAYLEY BARKER
Hayley is an artist based in Denver, CO. She explores themes such as subjective landscapes, magick and folktales, and fantastical world building. She is a multi-disciplinary creator, using assemblage and fiber sculpture, installation, video/photography, and painting/drawing. Hayley will run a workshop about digital zine making and how to set up zines for print for beginners.
https://hayleyjo.me/
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JAMES MORWOOD
James will be running a pre-recorded workshop showing how to make your own choose-your-own adventure zine! James is a game maker and zine lover and has run zine jams for the past several years where everyone is welcome to come along and make zines together. Recently these have become virtual zine jams with people making in their own space and share online if they'd like but without a video or voice call.
https://jctwizard.wordpress.com/
JUST IN CASE ZINE LIBRARY
Megan Dunford and Sally Lemsford are the Head Librarians of The Just In Case Zine Library. They will be making a collaborative collage zine to mark World Collage Day (8th May), and inviting zinefest viewers to make a collage page for the zine. They will compile all the zine pages post event and all participants will receive a copy. Just In Case is a zine library soon to be touring, offering the opportunity to get involved in zine making, swapping and discussion. Megan and Sally have been growing their own personal zine collections for a while and include some they've made themselves within the library too. They particularly enjoy zines that look at collaboration and conversation.
https://justincasezinelibrary.org/
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KIRSTY ROWLES
Kirsty Rowles is a feminist, fangirl, lesbian and Professional Nice Person (i.e. charity sector worker), as well as one of the organisers of Swansea Zine Fest. She makes the perzine Forever Incomplete about fandom, mental health, gay stuff and trying to be an adult, and she'll be talking at this year's event about different structures which can be used to make writing perzines easier.
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LUCAS ALAN DIETSCHE
Zineology is the study of zines in their context and content as use of education, being educated, and solidarity propaganda. Prisoner-written zines are their version of samizdat to describe and express themselves in their own political manifestos, poetry, first-hand witness accounts, etc of their incarcerated selves. With these makeshift writings come Xeroxed newspaper clippings, hand drawings, and unfiltered autobiographies. With the many decades of primary documents that display anti-imperialist, anti-classist, anti-LGBTAIAplus, anti-racist, ant-sexist liberation from socialist, communist, and all forms of anarchism, zines hardly are used for research other than possibly in English radical literature context. Zines are a visual and democratic process to create social change. Even with much research in the methodology of interviewing prisoners, using surveys, and other methods, prisoner zines (referred to in this research as prizines) are dismissed as to be uncouth and unpolished rantings in timid vernacular. Lucas Alan Dietsche is a self-taught neo-futurist and imagist poet as well as a convict criminologist researching Poetic Inquiry Criminology, zineology, and carceral feminism. Currently living in West Duluth, MN, he is the Editor-in-Chief of Transformative Justice Journal and is National Coordinator of Save the Kids'-Letters to Prisoners Project. He was Superior, WI's first Co-Poet Laureate, as well as Taconite Habour's current PL.
https://savethekidsgroup.org/
https://xennialpoetrynotes.wordpress.com/
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PHOEBE KITCHER
Phoebe is a queer, disabled, wholesomeness dealer living in Bristol. They make zines to contain thoughts, memories and feelings that need somewhere to live. They will be speaking at Swansea Zine Fest about alternative zine binding methods.
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REBECCA MCCORMICK
Rebecca is a fat queer zinester living in Barnsley. She writes a perzine called Opinionated Nobody, plus other zines on music, politics, and fat fashion. Rebecca will be talking about punk zines, and reviewing some of her favourites.
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SIMEON SMITH
Simeon makes music, images and films. Some people call what he does "content creation", but he has learnt not to trust those people. You might have seen his work in Lomography or Amateur Photography magazine, on the Presence App, or at London Fashion Week. Simeon will be running a workshop on doodling, with tips on how to get started with doodling.
https://www.awonderfulkindofimpossible.co.uk/
Talisman Zine
Becky runs Talisman spoken word in Swansea, and has produced several self-published books including fiction and poetry. They started Talisman Zine in lockdown; a fun, experimental and quirky zine that includes poetry, art, politics and philosophy. Becky will be talking about Talisman and zine-making as a way to encourage people to keep writing through challenging times.
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ZINE READERS
Becky Lowe
I run Talisman spoken word in Swansea. We have produced several self published books including fiction and poetry. I started Talisman Zine in lockdown. It is fun, experimental and quirky and includes poetry, art, politics and philosophy.
Instagram: @beckylowe345
Twitter: @BeckyLowePoet
Facebook: Talisman Zine
BluRaven C Houvener
BCH Comix titles speak to the human conditions of life, loneliness, and how our upbringings can echo throughout our lives. All of that is presented with a tongue n' cheek hilarity pulled from the random events of BCH Comix Creator BluRaven C. Houvener's life!
Instagram/Twitter: @jake_sayz
Cath Elms
Cath is a musician and writer living in Swansea. She writes a long-running perzine titled 'Here In My Head' (named after her favourite Tori Amos song), as well as various queer & feminist pop culture fanzines.
Instagram/Twitter/TikTok: @catherineelms
The Esther Greenwood School for Girls
The Esther Greenwood School for Girls: making fanzines since the late '90s about devils and hardcore punk, cats and cassette tapes.
https://patreon.com/mademoiselle
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/EstherGreenwoodSkole
Gears for Queers
Lilith and Abi (Gears for Queers) are a queer couple who make zines, do art, write and ride bikes together. They co-founded the Edinburgh Zine Library, and make zines about fatness, queerness, vegan cooking, cycle touring, madness and more. They live in Fife, Scotland.
https://gearsforqueers.wordpress.com/
Hette Phillips
My name’s Hette, I’m a typist in Manchester and I make zines: mostly collages and semi-poetic personal musings. I like glamour and spooky things and landscapes and pylons and run a weekly Instagram stories zine club with my friends Anna and Adam on Wednesdays from 6pm over at @letsmakezines.
Insta: burnyourbones
Twitter: burnyourbones
Insta Zine Club: letsmakezines
Kate Foray
Kate Foray is the muscle behind the zine series, "Girl Wrestling Fan Will You Marry Me," a compilation of stories about existing in the wrestling fandom from marginalized voices in the professional wrestling community.
https://gumroad.com/zoeybugstudio
Twitter: @makeitloud
Kirsty Rowles
Kirsty Rowles is a feminist, fangirl, lesbian and Professional Nice Person (i.e. charity sector worker), as well as one of the organisers of Swansea Zine Fest. She makes the perzine Forever Incomplete about fandom, mental health, gay stuff and trying to be an adult, and she'll be talking at this year's event about different structures which can be used to make writing perzines easier.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ForeverIncomplete
Twitter: @mskirstyface
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Morgan Clark
Morgan is an autistic zinester, poet and public speaker who enjoys making colourful zines on things that interest him, ranging from stuff that makes him angry, to cats and that really annoying cold he once had.
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Nina Nina (Echo Zines)
An Ode to my Future Wrinkles (Same Heartbeats #11)
http://echopublishing.wordpress.com
https://lostluna.bandcamp.com/merch
https://www.facebook.com/EchoPublishingArt
Phoebe Kitcher
Phoebe is a queer, disabled, wholesomeness dealer living in Bristol. They make zines to contain thoughts, memories and feelings that need somewhere to live.
Instagram: @phoebekitcherart
Twitter: alienpmk
Rosie Buf
Rosie Buf is a poet, creative psychotherapist and clown. She was the 2019 Swansea poetry slam champion! And pre covid could often be found lurking off stage at an open mic night. She may now be seen wondering around in the wilderness, a solitary creature, whose limbs are a little too long leading to this uncontrolled flailing arm movement. She survives on a plant-based diet but tried not to go on about it too much.
Steffan Grasso
Stefan has been drawing and painting for years, but it was only in 2014 that he decided to properly enter the world of art as a viable career. Since then, he has practiced with a single guiding philosophy, that art is a reflection of the inner state of the artist, capturing a side of the world that cannot be captured by a photographer. He works primarily in the field of traditional art, but sometimes experiments with digital techniques and uses Photoshop to put multiple drawings together. His work is informed by alienation, anxiety, current events, surrealism, art nouveau, graphic novels, expressionism, old foreign movies, and music (particularly goth and vaporwave).
https://www.stefangrassoart.com/
https://www.facebook.com/saintnox
Instagram: @stefangrassoart
Tukru
Tukru is a zinester extraordinaire and a di(stro mi)stress. They mainly write a perzine called Bat Habitat which was called ‘your pretty face is going straight to hell’ until very recently, and they also run Vampire Hag Distro (previously Vampire Sushi Distro).