Fair Brings Out The Zines

The buzz and joy around the Bradley Street Bicycle Co-op in East Rock was palpable, from the crowds of jacketed chatters outside to the low hum of many people inside the communal space. The community turned out for the NHV Zine Fair — the first such event in years.

Organized by the editors of one of the state’s youngest zines, Connectic*nt, a dozen or so zine makers — often multitalented creators, ranging from speakers to musicians to activists — manned the perimeter of the co-op’s space while scores of zine enthusiasts browsed and perused at Saturday night’s gathering. 

“Zines”— pronounced like the back end of ​“magazines” — are self-published pieces of print media that encompass a world of potential. They have their origin in the science fiction community in the 1930s and exploded among the punk scene in the 1970s. There is something special in a zine, a tiny package of handmade creative energy, made exactly in the image of the creator’s desire. Often the size of one’s hand, they burst with authorial intent and need to communicate something, whether it’s an artistic viewpoint or a manifesto on tenant rights; they contain art, print, sometimes all from one maker, and other times from multiple.

The Bridge & Tunnel Crowd, for instance, boasts a masthead the size of a sports team, with multilingual columns, photo essays, and more from contributors around the tri-state area. Others — like the work of Alice Prael, a local illustrator — showcase simple, cleanly drawn stories. Zines contain multitudes, and draw a huge swath of the creative community.

Local embroidery artist/maker Michelle Morgan stopped by the fair with her wife, Kate Donato. ​“I like anything DIY, and especially by and for the people of New Haven,” she said. ​“Community is the point.” As a creative herself, seeing the zines was a point of inspiration. ​“I like art, words, and politics — and zines are all of those things together!”

For the organizers of the fair, community is paramount. Mar Pelaez, Iyanna Crockett, and Zoe Jensen (pictured) all cited love of the zine community as one of the motivators for organizing the fair.

“Connecticut is often overlooked, or people say it doesn’t have a creative scene,” said Pelaez, gesturing at the crowd. ​“But clearly it does!”

Doing so primarily through Instagram, where shareable square images populated the algorithm in the days leading up to the event, the organizers DM’d nearly every vendor present, and enlisted the help of Bridge & Tunnel Crowd/sentient zine archive Win Vitkowsky (read about him here) to reach out to more analog newsletters, like the Progressive Action Roundtable.

“Celebrating everyone is the best,” noted Connectic*nt editor Zoe Jensen; the Connectic*nt project started as a way to celebrate friends’ art, and the venture quickly blossomed from there.

The fair spanned subject matter strikingly well, from the erotic zines of XYZ to flyers and printouts from Unidad Latina en Acción slamming local restaurant Goodfellas for wage theft. Pins, magnets, and small cards increased offerings beyond zines. Stefan Christensen had some records from his label C/Site Recordings on offer at the Bridge & Tunnel Crowd booth, while the editrixes of Connectic*nt had bedazzled lighters and croptops in addition to the glossy prints of their latest issue, themed around Valentine’s Day.

Khamani Harrison of the Key Bookstore — an ​“Afrofuturist interactive bookstore” that boasts over 30 million titles online and seeks to ​“be in community rather than be cooped up in a brick & mortar location” — was also vending books, calendars featuring a daily fact about Black history, and more. For her, the community was also essential, though she — much like CJ of Black & Brown United — wished to see more events like this across the city in neighborhoods traditionally overlooked for such events.

Attendees spoke highly of the event, many noting that they were thrilled to see a zine fair after years of silence (particularly during the pandemic) and that attendance surpassed all their expectations. Alice Prael chuckled that she should have brought more inventory, and that she was surprised pins were so popular. ​“Usually my magnets go first,” she said.

Paula Panzarella, of Progressive Action Roundtable, was also pleasantly surprised by turnout, lamenting not having printed enough issues of her newsletter. ​“I had no idea this would be so successful,” she said with a grin.

Bridge & Tunnel Crowd’s editor Win Witkowsky was also thrilled to see the turnout. Why are zines so popular? ​“Sometimes the wifi doesn’t reach the bathroom,” he joked. But clearly every booth cared deeply about producing a holdable, shareable piece of print media and helping it travel as far as possible. Despite ubiquitous masking, it was easy to see the crowd was smiling, departing with arms full of printed media and heads full of ideas.