"I'm not even trying to be dramatic, but to the world at large, I am a freak. My voice is downplayed, ignored and/or made into a joke in the mass of verbal and physical disapproval that bombards me every day when I leave the safety of my house or make the stupid decision to read a newspaper, magazine or turn the television on."In 2005, Jenny San Diego wrote that blazing manifesto, describing why thousands and thousands of writers around the world publish zines--that self-published, home-made, and paper-based style of personal writing.
Zine writer Jenna Freedman has fought to preserve this unique genre for years. She now curates the Barnard College Zine Library, a collection of over 1,500 zines and a safe haven for writers of all stripes.
For this reason, I picked Freedman for my deceptively simple feature: Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing.
Jason Boog:
What was the first zine you read, and why did this form attract you? Looking back over the hundreds of zines you've read, who are your favorite zine writers?
Jenna Freedman:
I think my first zine was Beet in 1992 or so. It was a literary zine edited by my friend Joe Maynard that published works by folks in the poetry/spoken word scene in NYC at the time.
I don't think I really got what it was about at the time—reclaiming the media, making art, etc. I just thought it was cool that I could get published.
Now that I'm fully immersed in zines and zine culture, my tastes have become a little more sophisticated. I particularly love librarian zines like Celia Perez's I Dreamed I Was Assertive and the library issue of Transom
Other zines I adore mix good writing with creative visual elements and an anarchist sensibility. One great zine I read this week was Glossalia, issues #4 and #6. A top choice from last year was The Secret Files of Captain Sissy
If you or your readers are dying to know the rest of my favorites, get a copy of The Best Zine Ever. It's free.
They charge a penny for it at Microcosm Publishing, but I assume that has to do with the technical requirements of their payment system rather than enriching themselves.
One thing that makes zines different from blogs is that zinesters communicate with each other one on one. The best way to become part of the community is to buy some zines, read them, and write your comments to the author. Or start sending your zine around—maybe to distros, reviewers, or to peoples whose work you admire.
I do want to say, though, that in general, zines are created to express or communicate. While a lot of their creators have professional writing aspirations, that's not what drives them.
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