News Round-Up!

Happy easter everyone!  I hope you’re all enjoying the rest of the lovely long weekend with plenty of chocolate eggs!  This fortnight has been a fairly busy one in the UK zine scene, notably for the massive success of the London Zine Symposium last weekend, which plenty of people have written about on their blogs (see below)!  Spill the Zines has now made a flyer, some of which were distributed at the London Zine Symposium - if you want to print and distribute your own, here it is: http://bit.ly/idQQOa.  We’ve also been syndicated on http://syndicatedzinereviews.blogspot.com, which is rather exciting.  Take a look at our re-blogged posts here.

Anyway, enjoy our zine news of the fortnight, and do remember to send us any news of your own for us to feature on the next blog update!

Cath x

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1. Zine Releases

2. Upcoming Events

3. Zine Reviews

4. AOB (Any Other Business)

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1. Zine Releases
Lots of awesome zines were released just in time for the London Zine Symposium last weekend, including:
 - I’m Drawing a Blank, Miss Tukru’s first comic-style zine. Pick up your copy at Vampire Sushi distro!
 - Scratch that Itch #3. I’ve got this feminist perzine, and can’t wait to read it. 
 - Out of the City and Into the Trees #2, written by Jake of Scale Trees Distro.  A zine about a boy that leaves home to live in a treehouse.
 - Adventures in Menstruating #6, a comp-zine themed around periods. Highly recommended!  Get a copy at http://www.chartyourcycle.co.uk/zines.
 - Virgin #2. This issue is a compilation zine featuring 6 submissions on the topic of virginity.  To buy a copy, paypal £1.50 to virginzineATgmailDOTcom.

2. Upcoming Events
 - EGAKU 2 – Draw for Japan (London): 1^st May

 - Victoria Baths Fanzine Convention (Manchester): 14^th May
 - Nottingham Zine Fair: 28^th May
 - Alternative Press Fair (London): 28^th - 29^th May
 - Ladyfest Essex: 11^th June
 - Zine Fest @ The Women’s Library (London): 25^th June
 - Birmingham Zine Festival: 9^th July

3. Zine Reviews

Sophie has written a great zine review post at her blog Oh My Clumsy Heart this week, featuring reviews of Lost Boy #1, Mythologising Me #2, and Oh My Oh No.

4. A.O.B.

 - Vampire Sushi distro has been updated, with lots of new zines in stock.

 - A few people have written reviews of the London Zine Symposium last weekend, including me, Caitlin Gwynn, Amelia’s magazine, Pamflet, and Sophie (Oh My Clumsy Heart).  Any more? Let us know!

 - Will of xyz zine is looking to set up a zinefest in Camden, London, in October!  Zinefests require a great deal of planning and helping hands, so if you want to help Will out with organising this event, get in touch at zisforzineAThotmail.co.uk.  There’s more info about the event and the help needed at Will's blog Z is for Zine.

Weekly News Round-Up!

Hello again!  I hope you’ve all been having a lovely crafty time since we last met.  Don’t forget to let us know what you’ve been up to, and send along anything and everything zine-related.  No matter how small, we’ll be happy to reply and promote! UK news only, of course.

We’ve listed all the lovely upcoming zine events here too, so you can put the dates in your diary if you haven’t done so already.  I’ll be attending most of them, so if you see me, come say hello!  I’ll have purple hair and biker boots. :)

Cath x

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1. Zine Releases

2. Upcoming Events

3. Submission Calls

4. Zine Reviews

5. AOB (Any Other Business)

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1. Zine Releases
- Issue 5 of perzine Sometimes I’m Dreaming was published this week.  To get hold of a copy, check out Lisa’s Etsy store: http://sometimesimdreaming.etsy.com 
- Not a zine but still a cool crafty thing worth sharing: Girls Get Busy zine have released their first ever Chixtape featuring girl bands Slutever, Wett Nurse, Sparkleshit, Chemical Peel and more. Hand-made with love. Only 50 available, so grab ‘em while you can. http://girlsgetbusyzine.bigcartel.com

2. Upcoming Events
 - London Zine Symposium: 17^th April
 - Victoria Baths Fanzine Convention (Manchester): 14^th May
 - Nottingham Zine Fair: 28^th May
 - Ladyfest Essex: 11^th June
 - Birmingham Zine Festival: 9^th July

3. Submission Calls
- Charlotte Lee is looking for submissions for issue #4 of her comp-zine, Bitch Theme!  The theme is girl hate/girl love.  If you want to submit something, please email charlotteleeukATyahooDOTcom. More info can be found on Charlotte’s tumblr here.

4. Zine Reviews
- Did you read my zine reviews I posted last week?  No? Go take a look then! Don’t forget that if you want your zine to be reviewed on this blog, you can email us a request.  There’s more info on our review policy page.

5. A.O.B.
- The Dylan Thomas Prize for young writers is currently looking for submissions for its 2011 competition. There’s a whopping £30,000 cash prize and an excellent launch-pad into a literary career available for the lucky winner.  To find out more about how to enter, take a look at their website: http://www.thedylanthomasprize.com/
- Remember we mentioned EGAKU in our last news post?  Well, the event went ahead last weekend, and they raised a cracking £1700 for Red Cross Japan!  How great is that?  Due to the success of the event, another zine sale will be taking place soon. For more info on how to get involved, visit www.egaku.org.uk
- Marching Stars distro was updated yesterday. Lizzy will be tabling at London Zine Symposium; if anyone wants to reserve zines to pick up at LZS, you can email her at distroATmarchingstars.co.uk by Friday 15^th April.

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We also wanted to remind you that we’re still looking to trade links.  This process is underway, as you can see from our lovely new sidebar.  If you’re interested, drop us a line.

Zine Reviews: April '11

Peach, Plum, Pear #1
Jenny Hughes, Lincs-Notts/Glasgow - jenneh.hughesATgmailDOTcom
Awww, Jenny.  She sent me Peach, Plum, Pear #1 AND #2 completely unsolicited, along with a lovely letter (and considering both are half-sized and 38 pages long, that was a very kind gesture!).  I figured the least I could do was to review one here.  Sadly, this zine has been made in what you might call the old-fashioned way - single-sided printing glued together.   This gave me the impression that the zine was much longer than it turned out to be, and made it unnecessarily costly for Jenny to post due to the weight... but that's a small complaint, because the actual content was really interesting.  It feels strange to say that I enjoyed reading this zine, as Jenny writes about harrowing topics of attempted suicide, self-harm, medication, and feeling that her days are consistently dull and monotonous.  Of course, it was very sad and thought-provoking to read about Jenny’s difficulties with depression, but due to her good-natured take on her experiences and her sense of optimism, it was surprisingly uplifting.  Everything is very well-written, and you really get a clear understanding of how Jenny feels and the difficulties she has encountered in her life. 

She also tries to lighten the general mood of the zine with some less-than-serious content, including a list of 80s goth music she enjoys listening to and reasons to get out of the bed in the morning, as well as pretty artistic layouts and drawings throughout.  Half-handwritten (such beautiful handwriting!) and half typewritten, this zine is just as lovely to look at as it is to read.  Highly recommended.

Sugar paper #3: 20 Things to Make and Do
Various – sugarpaperzineAThotmailDOTcom
A comp-zine from the UK, Sugar Paper is a fantastic half-sized zine published twice a year.  Issue 3 lists 20 fun creative activities to try, including various recipes, how to make a skirt, quizzes ("how twee are you?"), mazes, dinosaur origami, knitting a snake scarf, how to make a thermo trope, 3D pictures, starting a craft club, how to make a crochet pin cushion, how to get off the internet, and lots more!  There's also a kit included with instructions on how to make friendship bracelets - I haven't tried doing it yet, I'm scared that I'll be terrible at it!  This was a very fun zine, with lots of nice drawings, diagrams, and pretty layouts.  Highly recommended for those of you looking for some new ways to be crafty!

Tempest in a Tea Cup #4
Louise, Lincoln – thiswaltzAThotmail.co.uk
Yay, another Tempest in a Tea Cup!  This issue is a little more cheery than previous issues, with Louise writing about grrrlVIRUS, her favourite music, zine fests, attending Reclaim the Night, and her current obsessions.  There are also some darker pieces, including dropping out of university, and losing her job.  Louise states that so far, 2011 has been pretty crappy, but she hopes it will get better soon.  There’s a general theme of feminism running through the zine, which is reflected in Louise’s writing and her choice of visuals used.  The only thing I’d suggest Louise could do to improve Tempest in a Tea Cup is to write a few long pieces rather than lots of long pieces, as 2-3 pages per piece is never enough – I always find myself longing to read more!  Other than that, this is a very nice zine that’s always refreshingly honest and frank.  The layouts are lovely as ever, with lots of fun images that Louise found on tumblr scattered throughout.

Change the World in 7 Days
Pippa, Sheffield – incurable.hippieATgmailDOTcom
I really enjoyed reading this short and sweet zine.  Inside, Pippa lists one positive thing we should do for every day of the week that can change the world, including subvertising, planting a tree, ditching the car, buy local food, and reuse our stuff.  Each task comes with a few different ideas on how to carry it out, and some reasons why doing it can change the world.  With pretty, floral layouts throughout, this is a cracking little zine that left me feeling very inspired to be more green!

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The next zine news round-up will be posted a week Sunday.  If you have anything you'd like included, please get in touch at spillthezinesukATgmailDOTcom! :)