July 21st is Zine Library Day! To celebrate, we wanted to highlight the Queer Zine Library. The Queer Zine Library is a UK-based DIY mobile library with an emphasis on radical LGBTQIA+ self-publishing.
Inspired by the Hong Kong-based Queer Reads Library, Queer Zine Library collection was officially formed in June 2019 with the first iteration of the Queer Zine Library taking place at Gunnersbury LGBT Late event in 2019. Since then, it has travelled across the UK in pop-ups and residencies.
Queer Zine Library is led by a collective of volunteers who catalogue, fundraise, host workshops, and develop the collections. The library includes 800+ zines and self-published material. The majority of these zines are published in the UK, Europe, and USA from 1980s to present day. These zines include perzines, fanzines, chapbooks, community newsletters and small press comics. They span themes of activism, queer punk, fandom, sex, relationships, mental health, LGBT spaces and nightlife.
Follow them on Instagram and be sure to check out their incredible digital catalogue. Currently, about a 1/4th of their collection is catalogued.
P.S. This is still a relatively new development, but ZineCat and the Queer Zine Library have been in conversation to add their collection into our database in the near future once we streamline our ingest process. We are very excited!
