Zine writers and lovers alike gathered at Pressed Café on Oct. 20 to celebrate the third birthday of the café’s “zine rack.”
A zine (pronounced ZEEN) is a self-published underground magazine, small in size and often brought to life using a photocopier and some staples. The content of the zine depends entirely on the writer, but usually touches on topics outside of mainstream media.
The zine rack at Pressed, located on Gladstone Avenue, is home to several titles by both local and international writers. Lee Pepper, the curator of the rack, says about 2,000 zines have been sold so far.
“I was kind of astounded when I realized this summer that the zine rack had been around for three years, and it seemed worthy of celebration,” says Pepper. “I am very grateful that people buy zines and come out to readings and support self-published writers, so I wanted to do something fun to thank people.”
Apartment613, an Ottawa-based arts and culture website, is advertising the birthday party as part of their Support Local month.
The event will include readings from local writers, a zine swap and a vegan cake.
Pepper says the inspiration for the zine rack at Pressed came from a similar concept at Dépanneur le Pick Up, a café and corner store in Montreal.
“I had been visiting that zine rack and was complaining to a friend about how there was nothing similar in Ottawa. My friend asked why I didn’t start one myself,” recalls Pepper.
The going price for a zine on the rack is generally under $5, but with print and postage rates becoming more expensive, keeping the price down has been hard to do, according to Pepper.
“Still, I try to keep things as cheap as I can, so that zines can be for as many people as possible,” says Pepper.
Awareness is growing in Ottawa, but the culture surrounding these publications is still mostly underground.
Local zine writer Sacha Kingston-Wayne says he has noticed more people seem to be interested in zines now than when he first started writing them three years ago, but that they aren’t “in danger of overexposure.”
Kingston-Wayne is one of the readers for the Oct. 20 event at Pressed. The Grade 12 literary arts student at Canterbury High School has been writing zines ever since he made one in Grade 9 as a class assignment. His first, called Pancake, was sold on the rack at Pressed.
“It’s good people know there’s a place they can put something out there, that there’s an outlet for their writing,” he says.
The term is perhaps new for some, but the zine is far from a new concept. The beginnings of these small-scale publications can be traced back to the 1920s when science fiction “fanzines,” as they were then dubbed, began to emerge as a platform for lovers of the genre to write about their favourite titles. During the 70s, zines helped to promote the punk music scene and were also instrumental for feminist writers in the 90s with the rise of the third wave feminist movement.
“The thing that is most important to me about zines is that they offer a space for marginalized writers to tell their stories,” explains Pepper.
For Tyrin Kelly, 18, getting the chance to create and circulate his own work is what he says initially attracted him to zine-writing.
“You might not say that it’s great, but it’s OK for me and that’s all that really matters,” he says.
Kelly came out with Lust, his first zine, this spring. He will also be reading at the birthday party.
The “intimacy” of the medium is what Kelly cites as a reason for the appeal.
“They contain content that you wouldn’t normally read about, but content that’s powerful. It’s like warfare. So small but so powerful,” he explains.
The event will begin at 7 p.m. There is no cover charge and free pieces of cake will be served.