What’s the London Zine Symposium
The London Zine Symposium is a annual event where people interested in zines, small-press, comics and/ or radical culture can get together, buy or sell zines and share ideas with each other. The idea is to build a stronger DIY network and community by having people meet up, chat, maybe participate in a workshop or two but definitely have a good time.
The London Zine Symposium (LZS) was started in 2005 after being really strongly influenced by the Portland Zine Symposium, and other radical and small press events that were happening in the USA. Whilst London had the excellent Anarchist Bookfair every October there wasn’t something specifically geared towards small press, DIY or handmade publications in London, or the UK. The symposium has grown each year as those involved with putting it on learn new lessons. More info on previous years can be found in the archive section.
Can I have a stall?
Due to space limitations we tend to only have space for people to have stalls if they have more than one zine to sell/give out on the day, so people with distros or several back issues are welcome to get in touch to arrange to have a stall. For people who may only have one issue of their own zine to sell it’s easier if you put it on the ‘Individual Zine Rocks’ table which we will look after during the day for you. More information about this is available in the stalls section.
When is this year’s zine symposium?
Sunday 27th April is the day of the Symposium but there will also be an exhibition of zine artwork at Pogo cafe throughout the month of April. Full details are on the exhibition page.
Where is this year’s zine symposium
It is happening at the very cool Rag Factory which lies just off Brick Lane in East London. It’s at 16-18 Heneage Street. A google map of the area showing the venue is here.
The venue is really easy to get to. The closest tube station is Aldgate East (on the District line), and the closest mainline station is Liverpool Street station. All the difference ways to get to the venue are available on the Transport for London website.
What is a zine?
A zine is a self-made, independent publication that has been produced on whatever subject the writer/s is/are enthusiastic and passionate about. Pretty much any subject you can think of will have had a zine written about it at some point in time. There’s more information about what zines are and aren’t at Zine Wiki (http://zinewiki.com/)