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Category: zines
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Offsite – Zine Club Chicago on Marz: Everything's Gone Green Zinemaking Hangout, April 24th!
Zine Club Chicago on Marz: Everything’s Gone Green Zinemaking Hangout
Life on Marz Community Club, 1950 N. Western Ave. in Logan Square/Bucktown
7 – 9 p.m. Thursday, April 24, 2025
Free!This month, Zine Club Chicago is celebrating the earth and its natural delights in collaboration with our friends at Life on Marz Community Club! Y’all are invited to help create a group zine on the theme Everything’s Gone Green.
Please join us for Zine Club Chicago on Marz: Everything’s Gone Green Zinemaking Hangout, 7-9 p.m. Thursday, April 24 at Life on Marz Community Club, 1950 N. Western Ave. in Logan Square/Bucktown. Free!
Zine Club Chicago will provide all the zinemaking supplies! Just bring your creativity. Life on Marz Community Club, our favorite locally owned taproom and café space, offers awesome alcoholic, CBD, and non-alcoholic beverages from Marz Brewery and more, plus some very fun snacks, for purchase. DJ Soup Time will be providing sonic accoutrement during the evening, and we encourage y’all to stick around for some awesome music!
Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago. This free event series is produced by Cynthia E. Hanifin and sponsored by Quimby’s Bookstore. Anna Jo Beck is the creative force behind our visuals.
Facebook event is here. More info on the Zine Club Chicago social media channels: @zineclubchicago
Image description: A flyer featuring an image of a pile of green leaves and this text: “Zine Club Chicago on Marz: Everything’s Gone Green; 7-9 p.m. Thursday, April 24; Life on Marz Community Club, 1950 N. Western Ave; Free!; Info at quimbys.com”
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Zine Club Chicago Online: Writing a Letter Zine Workshop, April 15th!
Zine Club Chicago Online: Writing a Letter Zine Workshop
7:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Online! Free!
On Zoom, RSVP details belowDo you love snail mail? This month, Zine Club Chicago will be making letter-inspired zines! Producer Cynthia E. Hanifin will lead a fun workshop designed to tap into your epistolary leanings.
Grab your zinemaking supplies*, BYOS(tamps + Snax) and join us on Zoom for Zine Club Chicago Online: Writing a Letter Zine Workshop at 7:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, April 15, 2025!
** RSVP required ** We want to make sure that our online Zine Club Chicago events are a safe space, so we won’t be releasing the Zoom link publicly. If you’d like to attend, please email zineclubchicago@gmail.com to RSVP by 9 p.m. CT Monday, April 14 (the evening before our event). We’ll email you the Zoom link by 5 p.m. CT on Tuesday, April 15.
Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago. This free event series is produced by Cynthia E. Hanifin and sponsored by Quimby’s Bookstore. Anna Jo Beck is the creative force behind our visuals.
Facebook event is here. More info on the Zine Club Chicago social media channels: @zineclubchicago
* You’ll need a few sheets of 8.5×11” paper, a stapler or some tape, whichever implements you prefer for writing/drawing/etc., and your creativity!
Image description: A red-and-blue infographic flyer, with the image of a piece of paper sticking out of an envelope, and text that reads: “Zine Club Chicago: Writing a Letter Zine Workshop; Online! Free! Zoom info on quimbys.com; 7:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, April 15, 2025”
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Zine Club Chicago on Marz: Zinetronica Zinemaking Hangout, March 13th!
Zine Club Chicago on Marz: Zinetronica Zinemaking Hangout
Life on Marz Community Club, 1950 N. Western Ave. in Logan Square/Bucktown
7 – 9 p.m. Thursday, March 13, 2025
Free!
In March, Zine Club Chicago is celebrating the music that moves us in collaboration with our friends at Life on Marz Community Club! Y’all are invited to help create a group zine on the theme Zinetronica.
This month’s theme is inspired by Marz Community Brewing’s Synth Fest 2025, a week of awesome bloops, bleeps, and beats taking place March 7-15 at both Life on Marz and the Marz Mothership.
Please join us for Zine Club Chicago on Marz: Zinetronica Zinemaking Hangout, 7-9 p.m. Thursday, March 13 at Life on Marz Community Club, 1950 N. Western Ave. in Logan Square/Bucktown. Free!
Zine Club Chicago will provide all the zinemaking supplies! Just bring your creativity. Life on Marz Community Club, our favorite locally owned taproom and café space, offers awesome alcoholic, CBD, and non-alcoholic beverages from Marz Brewery and more, plus some very fun snacks, for purchase. Conflict Bureau’s Tactical Acid Weapon will be providing sonic accoutrement during the evening, and we encourage y’all to stick around for some awesome music!
Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago. This free event series is produced by Cynthia E. Hanifin and sponsored by Quimby’s Bookstore. Anna Jo Beck is the creative force behind our visuals.
More info:
Zine Club Chicago social media channels: @zineclubchicago
Image description
A flyer featuring images of a vintage synthesizer and this text: “Zine Club Chicago on Marz: Zinetronica; 7-9 p.m. Thursday, March 13; Life on Marz Community Club, 1950 N. Western Ave; Free!; Info at quimbys.com” -
Zine Club Chicago: An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping Collective Reading and Zinemaking Workshop, March 15th!
Zine Club Chicago: An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping Collective Reading and Zinemaking Workshop
3 p.m. Saturday, March 15, 2025
Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave.
Free!This month, Zine Club Chicago is thrilled to welcome our friends at Thick Press for a celebration of their new book, An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping!
From “abundance” to “zinemaking,” An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping invites the reader to wander through a collection of interconnected entries on helping and healing by over 200 contributors from the worlds of social work and family therapy; art and design; body work and witchery; organizing and education; and more. Privileging co-construction over diagnosis, wisdom over evidence, collective healing over individual curejuyet, always blurring categories and embracing contradictions — this world-making collection reveals a pluriverse of helping practices grounded in love and freedom.
Please join us for Zine Club Chicago: An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping Collective Reading and Zinemaking Workshop, 3 p.m. Saturday, March 15, 2025 right here at our shop, 1854 W. North Ave. in Wicker Park. Free!
Erin Segal and Chris Hoff, two of the editors of An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping, will be joining us, and contributors to the book will read selections from their entries. Our readers include Zine Club Chicago producer Cynthia E. Hanifin, Neil Horsky, and Noriko Martinez.
Zine Club Chicago also be hosting a zinemaking workshop, and you’re all invited to make a mini zine about your own radical helping and collective care practices! No prior zinemaking experience necessary.
All zinemaking materials will be provided. Please note that event seating is limited, and will be first-come, first-served. Zine Club Chicago is a mask-supportive environment; masks will be provided if you’d like to wear one.
About Thick Press: Care-givers, justice-seekers, and community-builders often find ourselves in the thick of human experience. Yet so many of the texts we produce rely on the thin logic of Western medicine and mainstream social science! What might happen if we grounded more texts in the arts? In critical theories? In spirituality? In lived experience? What might happen if we paid more attention to medium, form, and design?
Enter Thick Press, a collaboration between a social worker (Erin Segal) and a designer (Julie Cho).
We aspire to a practice that is loving, reflexive, playful, and collaborative. We worry about reproducing oppressive structures, but we’re not really that interested in critique. Above all, we want to make unusual books with others.
Inspired by artists’ books and zines, Thick Press publishes books that cross genres and disciplines. All our books relate to working or living in the thick of human experience.
Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago. This free event series is produced by Cynthia E. Hanifin and sponsored by Quimby’s Bookstore. Anna Jo Beck is the creative force behind our visuals, and she also made the Zine Club Chicago Shout-Outs site, where folks can peruse and recommend zines we’ve discussed at our events.
Facebook event is here. More info on the Zine Club Chicago social media channels: @zineclubchicago
Image description: A colorful infographic flyer designed by Julie Cho that features the cover of the book An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping, with text that reads: “An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping Collective Reading and Zinemaking Workshop; Zine Club Chicago at Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave., Chicago IL 60622; Saturday, March 15, 3pm CST; For more information visit quimbys.com”
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Spotlight on Inner Loop Press
Happy final days of Aquarius Season to those who celebrate! We thought it would be fitting to showcase the radical and scientific zines we received from Inner Loop Press , operated by Tanya Brassie in Philadelphia, PA. Each issue is lovingly risographed with die-cut pages and filled with impressive research, and we can hardly keep these informational zines on our shelves. Take a peek at all the titles we have in stock right now.
All zines mentioned below are written and produced by Tanya Brassie.
Space Trash
Trash in space, it’s more common than you think. The latest publication from Inner Loop Press’ Society’s Wonders Series is all about the debris humans disperse into Earth’s orbit during space missions. Learn how trash accumulates from chipped aircraft paint, defunct satellites, and missiles used to destroy said satellites. Due to the increase in commercialization and militarization of space missions, the amount of space waste is quickly multiplying. Fortunately, there are initiatives in place for private companies to develop technology to remove debris and abandoned satellites in the atmosphere.
Toxic Lagoons: Midwest Edition, Southern Edition, and Northeastern Edition
The environmental disasters described in Toxic Lagoons shine a light on the myriad of ways corporations and business owners pollute the Earth with toxic chemicals and mismanaged waste, resulting in Superfund sites that affect wildlife, surrounding communities, and the health and wellbeing of the ecosystems in our American cities. I learned New Jersey has the highest volume of Superfund sites in the US (224), with North Dakota being the environmental winner with zero. My personal favorite in the series is the Southern edition, where I learned about the Rhinehart Tire Fire Dump in Frederick County, Virginia.
Data Centers
Going digital seems like a simple solution to the ever growing problem of pollution and waste we’ve accumulated in our lifetimes. Unfortunately, the amount of energy it takes to fire off a single G**gle search is similar to turning on a 60-watt light bulb for 17 seconds. Data centers also use an insane amount of water to prevent the servers from overheating. With the popularity of AI, these issues are only increasing while using more of the planet’s resources.
Thank you Tanya Brassie and Inner Loop Press for bringing awareness to environmental injustice and how our man-made waste affects our beautiful home planet. I love that there is a quiz in each zine so you can make sure you’re paying attention to these important issues. Come into the shop to flip through these gorgeous and thoughtful zines!
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Looking for some spicy literature to gift your Valentine (or yourself ;)? Quimby’s is a proud purveyor of all things sexy, sex-positive, and sex-healthy. We also have a first-rate selection of straight-up smut!
Read on to discover a few of my tantalizing favorites. Get ‘em while we got ‘em!
Sex Goblin by Lauren Cook
I had so much fun reading Sex Goblin. It felt like I was inside Lauren Cook’s head as he was floating freely through a DMT-esque melding of fantasy and real life, navigating the weirdness of sex, relationships, and everyday life. Sex Goblin is touching in its unassuming vulnerability and it’s also one of the few books that has genuinely made me laugh uncontrollably. I can’t wait to see what else Cook comes up with!
Ode to My IUD by Heather A.
Zinester extraordinaire Heather writes not only a lovely ode to the “little piece of plastic” that is her IUD, but also a concise and fascinating history of intrauterine devices and a thoughtful commentary on how impactful IUDs are for society and for her personally. Sexual wellness zines like this one have never been more important than they are now. Thank you, Heather!
The Drawings of Rainier Flores: Side B
You like butts! We like butts! Everybody likes butts!! And Rainier Flores is a master of drawing them. So enjoy this lovingly produced zine that has a beautifully rendered ass on every page.
Have a Happy Valentine’s Day, you lovely, lovely people! We love yoooooooooooooooooooo! <3– Echo @fraulein_echo
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Offsite – Zine Club Chicago on Marz: Chicago-Style Traditions, Feb. 27th!
Zine Club Chicago on Marz: Chicago-Style Traditions Zinemaking Hangout
Life on Marz Community Club, 1950 N. Western Ave. in Logan Square/Bucktown
7 – 9 p.m. Thursday, February 27, 2025
Free!This month, Zine Club Chicago is paying tribute to the distinctive ways our city loves to celebrate with a free zinemaking hangout in collaboration with our friends at Life on Marz Community Club! Y’all are invited to help create a group zine on the theme Chicago-Style Traditions.
This month’s theme is inspired by one of our favorite local holidays, Paczki Day, which Marz Brewing commemorates with the annual release of their Paczki Stout. This unique seasonal beer will be available during our event!
Please join us for Zine Club Chicago on Marz: Chicago-Style Traditions Zinemaking Hangout, 7-9 p.m. Thursday, February 27 at Life on Marz Community Club, 1950 N. Western Ave. in Logan Square/Bucktown. Free!
We’ll provide all the zinemaking supplies! Just bring your creativity. Life on Marz Community Club, our favorite locally owned taproom and café space, offers awesome alcoholic, CBD, and non-alcoholic beverages from Marz Brewery and more, plus some very fun snacks, for purchase. The taproom also will be holding a DJ night that evening, and we encourage y’all to stick around for an awesome selection of music spun by Rent Control Records!
Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago. This free event series is produced by Cynthia E. Hanifin and sponsored by Quimby’s Bookstore. Anna Jo Beck designs our visuals and created our logo.
Facebook event is here. More info on the Zine Club Chicago social media channels: @zineclubchicago
Image description: A flyer featuring paczki on a plate and this text: “Zine Club Chicago on Marz: Chicago-Style Traditions; 7-9 p.m. Thursday, February 27; Life on Marz Community Club, 1950 N. Western Ave; Free!; Info at quimbys.com”
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Zine Club Chicago Online: Show Us Your Stacks, Feb. 18th!
Zine Club Chicago Online: Show Us Your Stacks
7:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Online! Free!
On Zoom, RSVP details belowWhenever self-publishing fanatics gather, one question always seems to come up: How do you organize your zines? Whether you’re a meticulous cataloguer, a creator of haphazard piles, or something in between, we want to know about the ways you arrange, display, and categorize your personal collection.
Get your home stash in order (or leave it messy), BYOS(tacks + Snax) and join us on Zoom for Zine Club Chicago Online: Show Us Your Stacks at 7:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, February 18, 2025!
** RSVP required ** We want to make sure that our online Zine Club Chicago events are a safe space, so we won’t be releasing the Zoom link publicly. If you’d like to attend, please email zineclubchicago@gmail.com to RSVP by 9 p.m. CT Monday, February 17 (the evening before our event). We’ll email you the Zoom link by 5 p.m. CT on Tuesday, February 18.
Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago. This free event series is produced by Cynthia E. Hanifin and sponsored by Quimby’s Bookstore. Anna Jo Beck designs our monthly flyers, created our logo, and made our Zine Club Chicago Shout-Outs site, where folks can peruse and recommend zines we’ve discussed at our events.
Facebook event is here. More info on the Zine Club Chicago social media channels: @zineclubchicago
Image description: A red-and-blue infographic flyer, with the image of books and zines stacked in a wicker basket, and text that reads: “Zine Club Chicago: Show Us Your Stacks; Online! Free! Zoom info on quimbys.com; 7:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, February 18, 2025”
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Recommended Reading: Vibrant Voices on the Page
The world is a flaming mess right now. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I’m right there with you. Whenever I’m struggling, I know that I can find respite in personal narratives. Reading about another person’s challenges, triumphs, sorrows, and joys reminds me that, as Adrienne Rich wrote, our stories flow in more than one direction.
Our shop is, of course, packed to the brick walls with vibrant voices on the page. Here are a few of the tales in which I’ve taken solace lately.
Every single issue of Lucinda J. Williams’ Bookshelf Voyeur series is a pure delight. Her latest release, #8: On Scrapbooks, delves into the fascinating lives that the zinemaker first encountered within a collection of turn-of-the-century ephemera.
Anxious Critters #1 and #2: I adore this pair of sweet zines about the relationship between creator Alex O’Keefe and her housemate: A very cute bunny named Ivy.
Although I’m a native Chicagoan, I’ve lived a good chunk of my life in small Midwestern towns, each with its own unique DIY community. Punks in Peoria: Making a Scene in the American Heartland by Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett takes a compelling look at how the hardcore punk movement played out in one central Illinois city in the ’80s and ’90s.
When someone I know returns from a trip, the first thing I ask is what they ate during their journey. April Malig chronicles her culinary adventures, with words and gorgeous colorwashed images, in April’s Eating Zine #5: Everything I Ate in Japan (Part One: Toyko!) and April’s Eating Zine #5.5: Everything I Ate in Japan (Part 2: Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Atami!).
I love a pocket-size zine, since I like never want to be without a story to get lost in. Ker-bloom! always delivers a perfect bite-sized tale presented in a beautiful letterpress package. Issue #171 begins with the epic statement: “Sometimes it pays to be a known Lord of the Rings nerd.”
So perhaps you’d like to add your own story to the glorious chorus of voices in this universe? We’ve got two of my favorite books about writing in stock right now. 1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round by Jami Attenberg and many of the writer’s literary friends — including Carmen Maria Machado, Roxane Gay, and Kiese Laymon — just came out in paperback. Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos is the book I would put into the hands of any storyteller who wants to deepen their own practice.
If you do decide to share your story with the world, please consider putting it into a zine and consigning it with us! You might want to grab a This is Going in My Perzine sticker to give folks a heads-up. 🙂
— With love and solidarity, C.E. Hanifin
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Zine Club Chicago: No Sleep Til Stapling Zinemaking Hangout, Jan 25th
Zine Club Chicago: No Sleep ’Til Stapling Zinemaking Hangout!
5-9 p.m. Saturday, January 25, 2025
Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Avenue in Wicker Park
Free!
Y’all clamored for it, so Zine Club Chicago is bringing back its after-hours hangout! Is making progress on your zine projects one of your 2025 resolutions? Kick off a creative year with us at Zine Club Chicago: No Sleep ’Til Stapling Zinemaking Hangout from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, January 25.
Bring your work-in-progress, create a new zine on the spot, or just catch up with other zine folks. We’ll stay open until 9 p.m., so feel free to drop in anytime during the evening. Bonus points if you wear your cutest pjs! (This gathering will channel the chill vibe of Quimby’s Zlumber Parties of yore.)
We’ll have zinemaking supplies, creative prompts, and snacks on hand. Zinemakers are encouraged to bring their zines to swap with others!
Plus, our own Echo will be offering tarot readings from 5 to 8 p.m.! Echo has been reading tarot cards for many years. She uses tarot as a mind-opening tool, a method for helping us see more, a path illuminator. Find her on the Internet: @fraulein_echo + echothehuman.com
Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago. This free monthly event series is produced by Cynthia E. Hanifin and sponsored by Quimby’s Bookstore. Anna Jo Beck designs our monthly flyers, created our logo, and made our Zine Club Chicago Shout-Outs site, where folks can peruse and recommend zines we’ve discussed at our events: https://zineclubchicagoshoutouts.spread.name/
More info on the Zine Club Chicago social media channels: @zineclubchicago
Image descriptions
A blue-and-red flyer with the image of a person’s hands holding a pen while writing in a notebook on a table that also holds a pair of glasses, cup of coffee, and several photos, with this text: “Zine Club Chicago: No Sleep ‘Til Stapling Zinemaking Hangout!; 5-9 p.m. Saturday, January 25, 2025; Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Ave.; www.quimbys.com; Free!; In person!”
A DIY veladora that reads “No Sleep ’Til Stapling” burns on a table alongside a long-arm stapler and a stack of paper at Quimby’s Bookstore in Chicago.
A picture of Echo tarot card reading and text that reads: “Tarot Readings by Echo, Saturday, Jan 25th in person! 5-8pm, as part of Zine Club Chicago’s January No Sleep ’Til Stapling Event, $15 per reading / sliding scale, Quimby’s Bookstore.”
