Tomorrow is the 1st of September (Springtime already? How did that happen?!) so I thought it’s high time I wrote a brief recap on the events I have attended recently before the next school holidays creep up and engulf me and I forget everything!

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Words In Winter

It was a crisp winter atmosphere on the evening I arrived in Daylesford for the Words in Winter Festival. I was looking forward to breathing in the country air and sharing a relaxed weekend away with my family.

That night I attended the screening of Polyfaces at the volunteer run Daylesford Cinema. The conversation between local food activists Tammi Jonas & Richard Cornish was particularly engaging. It allowed me to connect with the ideas behind the theme of this years festival “Food For Thought” showcasing an evident collective passion shared by many of the local community that are concerned about sustainable, informed, better choices regarding ethical farming and the food production industry.

On Saturday morning, Hepburn Community Radio kindly invited me along to talk a little about zines and promote the workshop I was running that afternoon in conjunction with the festival. The zine workshop was wonderfully received by the community. In a few short hours 8 new zines were produced in The Paddock and I was even asked to pose for a photo  with a particularly enthusiastic creative participant (Thanks Jess, good luck with your novel!) Unprecedented moments of connectivity like this are particularly special and topped off what was overall a wonderful weekend.

 

Zine & Indie Comic Symposium 2016

This was my 4th time flying up to Brisbane for ZICS. Affectionately dubbed 20ZICSteen, this years event was again held over 3 days, Aug 19-22, kicking of with a Pub Scrawl (drink and draw pub crawl) on the Friday night before the much anticipated weekend celebrating the often underappreciated medium that is indie comics and zines.

The weekend comprised of a 2 day Zine Fair (I tabled alongside Matt Boy In A Box Productions and Laura Bloomurder) various Discussion Panels and Workshops and even the unveiling of the annual Golden Stapler Awards! Once again an abundant turnout of eclectic creatives took over The Edge in a glorious display of solidarity and respect for independent press, uncensored expression and general awesome comradeship.

Although I spent only 36hrs in Brisbane, I still managed to enjoy some time catching up with local and other regular traveling zinesters which is something that has become as much an essential part of our annual ZICS pilgrimage as is the well received relaxed approach and positive vibes of the resident creative community that we come to fondly affiliate with our time spent up north. Long live ZICS!

 

I often lose myself in the forward planning madness for upcoming workshops and events. This means I can become distracted by the next thing on the calendar before processing what/where I have just been. I am planning to write more regularly in hopes it becomes a habit and a way to reflect on all these amazing adventures zines take me on. I love that zine workshops/events can occupy this much of my time – I don’t want to forget these experiences!

It is a wonderful thing, to have so many opportunities to educate, discuss and share zines and knowledge on diy publishing with younger people – I honestly can’t think of anything I would rather do with my time.

I’ll be looking toward the end of this year to schedule more making sessions soon, so stay tuned for more information on upcoming zine things.

Tasha  x

Hello! I hope that you’re all keeping your valuable digits warmly wrapped around scissors and coffee cups and enjoying a creative sit down- welcome winter!

Indoor spaces with outdoor views are my favourite zine making conditions, so I am looking forward to a burst of productivity during the winter weekends ahead!

June has come and almost gone – but we have one A Zine Thing teen zine making workshop at Northcote Library (Thanks to Darebin Libraries for asking us to facilitate this event) on the 27th – the perfect pre-IZM warm-up!

As for July – aka International Zine Month 2016, we’re going to be involved in a few different opportunities to make and share and collaborate with you:

1st July – 7-9pm @ Langwarrin Community Center $ donation, All ages

7th July – 2-4pm @ North Fitzroy Library FREE, Ages 7 – 14yrs

8th July – 2-4pm@Fitzroy Library FREE, Ages 7 – 14yrs

and make sure you keep an eye out on our facebook page to see what else AZT get up to this July.

-Tasha x

 

 

 

As I posted late in December on our facebook page, this year has been a wonderful mess! Indeed 2015 has proved to be the necessary stepping stone in the direction we would like AZT to take. More workshop series, re-launch of our upcycled community project and update our distro stock for starters – we still have a lot of work to do!

I would like to again mention that we’ve met some pretty amazing people at workshops and zine fairs across Australia (FOTP & ZICS the highlights per usual) THANK YOU to all of you that have been involved in our events and projects in any way – we appreciate your enthusiasm and support!

While we are still in a period of transition we can confirm we will be running zine workshops during the first week of the school holidays through Yarra City Libraries (check fb events) and have plans for more local involvement this upcoming International Zine Month (aka July).

Yesterday I headed into the city with my family to visit to All Star Comics for an in-store indie launch-event ‘Comicmas in July!’ that featured new works by David Blumenstein (ping Squishface), OH MY! Alisha Jade, Frank Candiloro and Ashley Ronning from Caledra Press.

Arriving early meant we had an opportunity to chat with the creators briefly however we all became quickly distracted by an adorable pug who had the same idea. Who doesn’t love an over excited puppy?!

So albeit a brief encounter it was a wonderful way to begin a weekend; seeing these friendly local creators celebrating their latest projects and sharing stories.

Needless to say I left happily with my showbag of awesome papery treasures: upbeat, heartfelt stand alone’s, contrasting content paired with delicate/bold illustrations, candid recollections and the next installment in a series that I had been waiting for! (8 titles in total, for $50)

(..and a few other titles (Guardians/Minions) for my boys to read on the trip home – will somebody local please write more all-ages/kid appropriate comics already?!)

I have read lots of locally created comic and zines over the years, and more recently I’ve been thinking about how Australian creators have a unique ability to interpret events or approach topics that conventionally minded people may find uncomfortable or emotionally confronting, and without compromising the integrity of the content and point, somehow keep it light enough for any reader to process. I really like that.

Hey – it hasn’t escaped me that it is International Zine Month! Although I may have been somewhat quiet on social media in recent days (busy reading cool comics etc..) there’s been zine action behind the scenes and I will share a #IZM2015 round up/highlights post upon its conclusion – so stay tuned!

In the meantime, stay warm + read comics + zines!

– Tasha

Our ongoing local Community Zine Project #IsThisFrankston? has gathered pace with a new submission form release and plans for a 2nd printed zine to be launched at the end of 2015.

Look out for this form in and around Frankston and watch this space for updates.

A Zine Thing has finally made the move from social media platform to its very own webpage!

From now on all our upcoming workshops, events and newly stocked items will be announced here on our blog! Exciting times!

Watch this space!