These webpages are outdated and relevant content will be migrated to engagement.ku.edu.

Zines and Za

A series of zine nights that offer a welcoming feminist space for students to connect and create self-publications in community with one another over free pizza.

What’s a Zine?

zine (/ziːn/ ZEEN; short for fanzine) 

In her classic text Stolen Sharpie Revolution, zinester Alex Wrekk defines zines as “physical, printed, self-published creations that can consist of a single sheet of paper or many, fastened together, usually with staples; independently made for the love of creating and rarely make a profit; created by one person or with a group of people; usually photocopied.” Today, zines are also made and distributed digitally.

Why Make Zines?

As zine scholar Alison Piepmeier argues in Girl Zines: Making Media, Doing Feminism, zines enact what bell hooks describes as “a pedagogy of hope.”  Zine making allows women, femmes, and other marginalized people to engage in creative self-expression, to speak for themselves in a society that often silences them. Zines allow makers to critique, question, resist, and reappropriate the patriarchal mass media by taking the means of production into their own hands. Zines promote community-building by fostering a gift economy of sharing and exchange; often, they are made collectively or in community with others.

We encourage making zines as a way of practicing feminism and creating community.

The Zine Machine & Free Zine Kits

We offer free zine making kits for students in the yellow zine machine outside Kansas Union #426. Each kit includes: a pair of scissors, a glue stick, a magazine for collaging, assorted craft paper, stickers, two pieces of white printer paper, instructions for making your own mini zine, and more. To request a zine making kit, please email us.

Collaborative Zine Projects

Comp Zines

  • What is Queer & Trans Liberation?
  • Grow, Grow, Grow
  • Slash the Patriarchy
  • TDOR
  • My Bloody Valentine: A Love Letter to Periods
  • Let's Talk About Sex
  • Destroy the Patriarchy, Not the Planet
  • The Eerie Assemblage
  • Music is Our Love Language 

Workshops by Request

We offer our Make Mini Zines, Do Feminism! zine workshop by request. During this fun and interactive 2-3 hour session, participants learn about zines as a medium, explore the history of zines, analyze the relationship between zine making and feminist practice, explore KU and local zine resources, learn how to cut and fold a mini zine, as well as take part in a community making and optional sharing process. If you would like to request this workshop, or a zine making workshop tailored specifically for your class or organization, please email us. We would love to work with you to meet your particular needs.

Magazine Donation

We are always seeking old magazines to include in our zine making kits or use during our zine nights and workshops by request. A magazine donation box is located next to our zine machine outside Kansas Union #426.

How to Make a Mini Zine

Megan Williams demonstrates how to make a mini zine. Mini zines are tiny, 8-page zines, made by folding and cutting a single sheet of paper.