Hello zine-lovers! Welcome to the first edition of The Zineatorium, a new weekly zine consultation.
This autumn has been a whirlwind of zine-related events, from the Twin Cities Zinefest to MIX and Yeti Records‘ Girl a Whirl, which coincided with the unveiling of their zine selection. I’m sure after these events your thirst for zines has not been quenched, so what better way to kick off this column than with a look at where to find zines in these lovely Twin Cities?
Some stores that sell zines:
Minnesota Center for Book Arts bookstore
Yeti Records —oh, and speaking of, I caught up with Lisa of Yeti Records right after their zine selection was revealed. Here’s a few Q&As:
Q: What are your favorite zines Yeti carries?
A: This is a toughie. Most of the zines we carry are brand new to me. I am a contributor to C.L.A.P., but wasn’t really aware of what was going on in the Minneapolis zine world until they started coming in the store. Two zines that stand out to me are “Bear Cupboard” and “Girls/Women.”
“Bear Cupboard” is rad because it has recipes influenced by the people who raised the zinester. I once bought Wynonna Judd’s cook book which I thought I would like based on the same reasoning. Hers was boring. “Bear Cupboard” is awesome. I’m talking Somalian and Amish influences. “Girls/Women” is great because it is just so beautiful. It is full of lovely hand drawn fashion illustrations. Also it includes a nice poster inside. Frame-worthy for sure.
Q: Tell me a little about Yeti’s zine selection.
A: It covers a wall with a bunch of mismatched shelves. It’s not curated right now. It doesn’t need to be. They all are rad. They are currently all local and all affordable.
Q: How did you decide to sell zines at Yeti?
A: We actually had a couple of them from the beginning. “Wunky” was the first, which just made sense since it’s a music scene and we are a music shop. Then “C.L.A.P” came to be and we started selling lots of them here.
Something in my mind went click click click. Local music and local zine. doi. I love zines. I have my own shop. Why aren’t we carrying more zines??? So I started putting the word out.
Q: Why do you think it’s important to sell zines?
A: Because zines are awesome. Zines are paper. Tangible. You pick it up and hold it. It is very similar to the reasoning why people should buy vinyl instead of downloading everything.
Q: What’s a good zine/music pairing?
A: I would totally pair the Black Hole zine up with Mother of Fire‘s new 10 inch.They are both strange sizes. Both have strong and bizarre female voices. Both rock my world.
Oh, and did you know that there are a few libraries that carry zines? Oh yes.
Minneapolis Community and Technical College library has over 5,000 zines for use in the library. They’re amping up their collection, catalog, and programming around zines, so look for good things coming from these zine-supporting librarians. And stop by to paw through their collection sometime–their library is open late!
Minneapolis Public Library Walker branch has zines for checkout. They’re a little worn, since they’re in a public library and all, but hey, the public library carries zines. Hurrah for that!
Zine Apothecary has over 2,000 zines in a garage in Powderhorn Park. (Full disclosure–it’s my garage and library–as if you couldn’t tell from the byline.) They’re available for checkout, and there is a friendly dog and cozy chair and coffee or tea!
And finally, if you need to get out there and hear a zinester’s work read first-hand, look no further than Boneshaker Books’ Ad Infinitum: A Reading by Allen Killian-Moore on Monday, November 14 at 7pm.
