Birmingham Zine Festival

We went along to the Birmingham Zine festival last year when it was held in the (sadly) now defunct We Are Birmingham shop on Dale End. I wasn’t really sure what to expect but was really pleasantly surprised. When I was a teenager many, many years ago Fanzines meant either an independent football fans magazine, or an indie music publication. The common factor was poorly photocopied and assmbled sheets of paper with often sub-​standard content. The Bham Zine Festival showed me that things have changed. There were zine writers and artists from all over the UK exhibiting their work, and almost all of it was of an exceptionally high standard — more like hand-​made art than photocopied missives. If you get the chance to go this year you should. Take some cash so that you can pick up a few things that might take your fancy.

Birmingham Zine Festival is a small publishing fair, now in it’s 3^rd year. It is a 3 day event comprised of exhibitions, talks, performances, workshops, a zine and comic fair, parties and usually a Sunday afternoon picnic to close the event.
Each year the festival is held at a new location. This year’s event will be held in Birmingham’s Southside (Arcadian/​Hurst Street area) in conjunction with the Eye Candy festival of illustration. The dates are 12−14^th October.
BZF is always great fun and features the work of authors and artist from all over the UK (and sometimes beyond); you will love it if you are a fan of comics and illustration.
This year’s festival will also include film screenings, more musical performances and hopefully some comedy too.