SF Zine Fest

Just a note to our West Coast friends - San Francisco Zine Fest is this weekend, don't miss it! What an amazing line up they have this year, with special guests Cindy Crabb ("Doris") and Vanessa Davis ("Spaniel Rage"), along with workshops like bookbinding and screenprinting. Also, this year they're partnering with Mission Creek Music & Arts Festival, so take a break from zines and go listen to some music for a while too. Go to their website for all the details -San Francisco Zine Fest.

Good news, bad email

The good news is, we're moving back into the library this afternnon! I'm not sure when it'll be opened up to the general public, but this is definitely exciting, considering how many campus buildings are closed indefinitely. As far as I know, the flood waters didn't reach the first floor of the library so the Zine Machine is high and dry. Hooray for dry, un-moldy zines!

(This is how the book were moved upstairs, before we were all locked out.)

It's also been brought to my attention that emails to info@zinemachine.org have been bouncing back. I was wondering why no one's been writing to us! Anyways, that email account has always sucked so we're switching to zinemachine@gmail.com. They're being forwarded to this gmail account already, but soon we will cancel the info@zinemachine.org account completely.

We've received a few new submissions for the Zine Machine this summer, and keep them coming in - we won't restock the machine until late summer/early fall, but they will definitely make their way into the machine. Here are 2 to look forward to, from Art for a Democratic Society:

Iowa City flood

The Zine Machine is temporarily inaccessible due to the closing of the UI Main Library as a precaution against possible flooding. The building is protected by walls of sandbags, and now we'll just have to wait and see how high the water gets. The word is that it might flood in the basement, but is unlikely to reach the first floor (where the vending machine is). I'll keep you posted.

The parking lot behind the library (the English/Philosophy Bldg is on the right). The river usually ends on the *other* side of that row of trees on the upper left.

The swollen river behind the library, the Burlington Street bridge in the distance.

Summer of zines

Here's a more complete list of zine events that'll keep you busy until the frost returns:

April 27 London Zine Symposium (London, UK)
May 17-18 Vilnius Zine Fest (Vilnius, Lithuania)
May 24 Houston Zine Fest (Houston, Texas USA)
May 31 Denver Zine Fest (Denver, Colorado USA)
June 1 Olympia Zine Potluck (Olympia, Washington USA)
July 12-13 Twin Cities Zine Fest (Minneapolis, MN USA)
July 18-20 Milwaukee zine fest (Milwaukee, WI USA)
August 23-24 Portland Zine Symposium (Portland, Oregon USA)
September Philly Zine Fest (Philidaelphia, PA USA)
October Canzine (Toronto, ON & Halifax, NS Canada)
November Expozine (Montreal, QC Canada)

Also, we have great news from John Porcellino that his new book Thoreau at Walden came out April 22nd, in hardcover (the paperback edition will be released May 2009). Get more info on this and his other releases at King-Cat Comics.






now, get back to stapling!

Back up again!

The Zine Machine is up and running again, and has been updated with new zines (even though the website hasn't yet). Come by for a visit.

Some nearby Zine Fests coming up this summer:
Denver Zine Fest (May 31, 2008)



Twin Cities Zine Fest (July 12 & 13, 2008)
Milwaukee Zine Fest (July 18-20, 2008)

For our international zinesters, don't forget to check out The London Zine Symposium next week.

Machine Malfunction

The Zine Machine has been malfunctioning lately, having some difficulty accepting money. There are new zines in it, from Bob Lipski, Scott Smith, and Possibility Space among others (the site hasn't been updated), but for now just admire them through the glass and hold on to your hard-earned money. We'll let you know when it's up and running again.

Zine Reading photos

Thanks to everyone who came out to Zine Machine's first ever Zine Reading - it was a sweet night. We heard readings from Cody G., Natasha B-R., John G., Christina M., and me, Jessica W. To top it all off, John Porcellino told us about his long journey with King-Cat Comics. Here are some pictorial highlights: