The Queer Zest Zine Fest features workshops from zinesters around the world. QZZF 2024 is over, but some of our workshops will be available on YouTube in the coming months, so stay tuned! If you’d like to host a workshop at the next fest, subscribe to our email newsletter to stay up do date about applications and the event.
2024 Workshops
Daily Book-Binding Workshops with Laura Chenault
Grant Writing for Zinesters with Rathaus Press
Evan with Rathaus Press has been awarded several grants totaling over 30k for queer zine projects/programming, and has served on the panel for the Genesee Valley Council on the Arts NYSCA regrant. They will present excerpts from their accepted applications and talk about general tips for getting started with grant writing, with a Q&A afterwards.
Developing your Own Comic Series with Yuki Clarke
Yuki Clarke is a Baltimore based Latina ace-lesbian cartoonist who’s worked on comics and art ever since she could hold a pencil. She is currently working on her main sapphic sci-fi adventure comic series “Rita & Josey” as well as smaller projects. She is also an active member of the Cartoonist Cooperative and has a leadership role as the Outreach Committee Chair. This workshop will cover her experience developing her own comic series.
Non-Normative Relationship Modes with Meeni Levi
As an arospec person in multiple polyamorous relationships, Meeni is very interested in exploring the diversity of possible relationship modes. This presentation is about relationship modes that fall outside of the allo- and mono- normative norm: queerplatonic relationships, polyamory, relationship anarchy, and relationships involving asexual and aromantic people, and will discuss the assumptions we make about relationships, the different possible modes of relating, and resources for people interested in dismantling the norms in their relationships.
The Role of Creativity in Mental Health with Jacs Guderly
Jacs is a writer and illustrator, creating mental health illustrations @mysketchyhead. She uses her own depression as inspiration for her writing and sketches. She has an extensive portfolio of mental health focused work, using diverse lived experiences expressed through art, words and conversation, to challenge stigma around mental health. This workshop will explore the role of creativity in mental health as a zine maker.
Tabling at Conventions for Beginners with Kelci D Crawford
Kelci Crawford is a comic artist, illustrator, and concept artist based in Toledo, Ohio. They have been making comics since 2013, and running Fantasyville Productions, LLC since 2018. Kelci will be presenting about tabling at conventions for beginners, covering topics such as how to find an event and what to bring to a tabling experience.
Memory Hunt: Writing toward our slippery pasts with Angie Dell
This playful workshop will examine the connections between our five senses and our memories, and explore how multi-sensory zines and writing can tap into new and buried details from the past. Through guided discussion and generative writing exercises, we’ll aim to queer the narratives about who we used to be and where they find us now. All are welcome—no experience required!
What is it about Neuroqueers and Trains? with Bee & Natalia
Bee and Natalia will be hosting a mini-zine workshop on the experiences and perspectives of queer and neurodivergent people on public transportation. There is a particular kind of affinity for public transport infrastructure among these communities, and this workshop is a celebration of it! Participants will come away from the workshop with a freshly-made, structured minizine and an opportunity for new connections, and hopefully fresh perspective from our discussions.
Bee and Natalia are also looking for contributors to a potential edited volume on queer transit culture, so if zining about this subject lights your soul on fire, come on by!
Starting a Queer Art Club with Canto Cutie
Katherine Leung is the zinester behind Canto Cutie and Dead Dads Club. She co-founded a Queer Art Club in rural Vermont and has raised over $8000 to support free dinners for the community. Katherine will be presenting a workshop about start a queer art club and applying for grants to sustain the work.
Anti-Establishment Poetry with Bug Tourmaline
Bug Tourmaline will be leading a workshop on leveling up your poetry game in an anti-establishment way. You can learn more about Bug at their tabler page, Bug Tourmaline
Tarot Perzines with Magpie Zines
This interactive zine workshop invites zinesters to create a zine inspired by the archetypes of the tarot. At the end of the workshops, zinesters will have a better understanding of how metaphor can work in writing about their lives, and they’ll have a satisfying little mini-zine with a tarot twist. No prior experience with tarot is necessary.
