Photocopy Press #2 The International Zine Maker Issue

By Elizabeth J. M. W.
petitspoissons.etsy.com

Since I read a lot of zines, and go to a lot of zine events, and write about zines all the time, I’m clearly interested in zine culture. Elizabeth’s zine starts off with reviews of zines (and zine related things), and since there’s been a bit of discussion about it on the internet (including on this blog) I thought it was interesting to read that she only prints positive reviews. She says that she doesn't “see the point in wasting ink and paper on a zine I’m not excited to tell others about”, which is a legimitate argument. (I, however, have the infinite space of the internet!) She also says that she doesn’t want to make people upset by printing negative reviews of things that they've worked hard on.

But that’s not the interesting thing about this zine! The interesting bits are the interviews done with zinesters from around the world (including me!). Elizabeth sent out email questionnaires to zinesters who responded with answers about how they discovered zines, what the zine scene in their area is like, and other questions. It’s a bit English speaking country-centric, but that’s to be expected. There is some pretty cool info in there though, about the scenes (or lack thereof) in Israel, Austria, and other countries. Plus you can read my response, which is somewhat confrontational, devil’s advocate-y, and questions the very wording of the questions themselves. I am predictable.