Describe an average day:

First thing:  I get up at about 7 am and have some fruit for breakfast or leftovers, if it’s a weekend. Then I get dressed and either go to some school or other if I’m teaching, or attend university if I have classes.

Once I’ve made that choice, I do nerd stuff and talk about inclusive teaching and science for a few hours because I’m training to be a teacher (my two degrees are in Maori Studies, Environmental Studies and Chemistry). Once I’m done with learning I usually try to hang out with some of my friends, I often try and do this over dinner, because cooking is rad. People are my new thing and a great way of avoiding reclusiveness when one lives alone.

Notwithstanding marking and/or homework, I then work on my music or art and email people about their interviews or writing for my zines. Actually, that stuff usually happens after about one in the morning, if at all. I’m pretty busy at the moment.

How did you first get into zines?

My mum is most excellent and had heaps of small-press comics in the house when I was young, stuff like Tim Bollinger’s early strips and the original Pickle series by Dylan Horrocks. (more…)

For the sixth in our interview series with zinesters from around the globe, we have Melbourne-based Justine Telfer, mastermind behind the incredibly popular Mixtape zine…

Describe an average day:

Have breakfast with the family, check emails and try and answer as many as possible, check my fav blogs, try and get some sewing done, all this while raising a 4 yo! (more…)

Third up in our series of interviews with our favourite zine producers, we have Kim Gruschow. Kim is the author of the trivia filled Pinktricity, member of two or three punk bands, notorious karaoke microphone stealer and general sassy lady about town.

Describe an average day:

Up, coffee, bus, bookshop, coffee, bookshop, snack, bookshop, bus, gossip, read, mope, homework, wine, bands, karaoke, sleep.

How did you first get into zines?

Punk music & the wonderful red letter zine distro.

Describe your work:

I make zines concerning the stuff I love most and the stuff I loathe most. Sometimes I use a computer but sometimes a biro. I am fond of pictures. I like lists and reviews. I like to cover fads and people that have long since gone. This may be because I take a long time to make a zine.

What do you like about zines?

They are cheap & accessible to produce and have uncensored, uncompromising charm. I have total control.

Is there anything you don’t like about zines as a medium?

I struggle with photocopier margins ruining my fun.

How do you get inspiration for a zine?

I hang around at karaoke bars a lot of the time.

Tell us about some of your favourite zines:

Murder Can be Fun is all about death and disaster arranged by subjects including Disneyland and sports. Craphound is a joy for magpie-like picture scouts who like to geek out over hundreds of similarly themed pictures. I also love music zines with extensive review sections. I like to sit around ticking off bands that I may be interested in, should I ever seek them out or hear them by chance.

To borrow Kim’s zines, come up to the Zine Collection on the first floor of the Wellington Central Library.

For more info about the WCL Zine Collection, please visit www.wcl.govt.nz/zines

Second in our series of interviews with our favourite zine producers, we have Bryce Galloway, author of the longest running zine we know of, with one of the longest names: Incredibly Hot Sex With Hideous People. The WCL Zine Collection holds 30 issues, so come check them out on the first floor of the Central Library.

Describe an average day:

Exceptional. It’s all in my zine. Check it out.

How did you first get into zines?

I wanted to promote the release of a CD I’d put out and I wasn’t getting much help from the music press so I figured why not just print something myself.

Describe your work:

My zine work is autobiographical with a penchant for the embarrassing moment and everyday crisis. There’s also a bit of musing on the things that have immediate impact on my life, like parental gender roles and loss of youthful mojo.

What do you like about zines?

I like the immediacy and I like the modesty and pathos of the media. More “substantial” magazines can be so MOR (middle-of-the-road). There’s real personality in zines. The advertising and editorial pressures of the regular press can make for boring reading.

Is there anything you don’t like about zines as a medium?

No. I’m little surprised if a zinester tries to sell their $1’s worth of photocopying for $10 as there’s a bit of an ethic of accessibility which usually equals affordability.

How do you get inspiration for a zine?

I just stare at my navel, or my wife and kids, or my own expectations.

Tell us about some of your favourite zines:

Arlo Heynes is a local twelve-year old comic artist who draws great loopy narratives with titles like The Adventures of Steve and Human Buzz Fly.

Wellington musician Stephen Clover once made a zine called ‘Looking For A Fish-Drying Plant?’ It was so brilliant, he invested so much in it, that he hasn’t made a zine since. I wish he would. In one great piece of journalistic invention he flew around the country posing different dietary requirements like vegan and kosher so he could write airline-food reviews.

Auckland artist/musician Glen Frenzy has made some wonderfully dark tribute CD + zine combos about the late junky musician GG Allen, following those up with a tribute to Billy Joel!!! He inspired my own John Lennon tribute and a Madonna one that I have in the pipeline.

For more info about the WCL Zine Collection, please visit http://www.wcl.govt.nz/zines

What is it that makes the world of Zines so exciting, creative and diverse? It’s the people that make them! We decided to ask some of our favourite zine producers some questions in a new series.

First up we have Kerry Ann Lee, renowned zine maker, distro runner, artist, designer and all round amazing woman…

Describe an average day:

Average days are such a rarity. They tend to start off the same. I get up approximately half an hour after my alarm. I have three different alarm clocks next to my bed and choose which one to set depending on how I best feel like waking up. One sounds like a bull-horn, one sounds like the X-files theme tune and the other one is an androgynous 80’s talking robot voice. I will most likely have coffee and cereal and read something. I will then either go and teach an art class or answer emails and keep abreast of current affairs on the internet. I will have a project I’m working on. This will probably be design work, zine making or making something. I may be writing a letter or putting together a care package I need to post to the other side of the world – that’s if my friends don’t catch me accidentally online on the internet and we start chatting about the weather in Italy, the traffic in Beijing or gigs in New York. My day often involves some form of caffeinated socialising, maybe some curly fries, veggie sushi, or mock deep fried drumstick (and if I’m lucky a game of chinese checkers with Sam). All the while I will be crossing off things on my ever-growing ‘to-do’ list like returning comics, zines and music to the City Library or purchasing everyday household items. Evening times are filled with either lots more work, hang-outs or the occasional smelly punk show. The later also entails late night eats and lots more slang talk til the wee hours.

How did you first get into zines?

Reading DIY NZ comic zines and anarcho punk fanzines like Profane Existence as a surly teenager. My friends started making zines in the mid 90s and I wanted in.

Describe your work:

angular, scratchy, furry, bountiful and green.

What do you like about zines?

The fact that the artist/author is also the maker, that they can be made by anyone, for anyone about anything, anywhere and the materiality of these things made from scratch. I also like that although many zines share common themes or interests, they tend to be very individualistic and often tend to defy category or cliques.

Is there anything you don’t like about zines as a medium?

Cost is always a mitigating factor in production and distribution. Also having been making these things for over 11 years, it is sometimes tiring having to still explain what they are and their value. I find I’m doing less of this now due to having an amazing public zine library and lots of inspired and enthusiastic people involved.

How do you get inspiration for a zine?

Hearing crazy stories and bad jokes, reading lots of books and zines, watching old horror movies, meeting interesting people, encountering odd occurances. Wanting to learn more and share things to possibly amuse, educate and irritate others. I used to just hide away and emerge with a zine, but now I find I talk about it enough,involve other people through collaboration, submissions or interviews and then it has to happen.

Tell us about some of your favourite zines:

Radical! Cometbus, Scenery, Punk Planet, Doris, Dharma Punks, Child that Mind, Helter Skelter, Maximum RockNRoll, Thriftscore, Girlyhead, Flying Fox, Bamboo Girl, Keep in Touch, Incredibly Hot Sex with Hideous People, Hodgepodge, Choice Guy, Ladyfriend, I Hate this Part of Texas, Enobled Mind, Burn Collector, HeartattaCk, Foodgeek, Is Not Magazine, This is Not a Comic, Johnny America, the list goes on…

Draw (or collage or photograph) a picture of yourself: