Spokane Zine Fest fosters a niche counterculture for self-expression and storytelling at its one-day-only event

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Young Kwak photos

Spokane Zine Fest founders Chelsea Martin and Ian Amberson.

The phrase "small but mighty" has never been more pertinent than when talking about zines.

For the uninitiated, zines (pronounced "zeens") are small, photocopied paper books filled with words or images. Meant to be circulated to a hyper-local group of people, zines often give representation to the voices of those on the fringes of mainstream culture.

For local author and Spokane Zine Fest co-founder Chelsea Martin, zines are a thing of her past, present and future.

"I started my publishing career doing zines," Martin says. "I just self-published little booklets of my work to sell when I was first starting out.

"I was into it for finding writing and other people doing the whole zine thing," she continues. "It was such a great way to meet people who are doing weird art stuff that you aren't going to see at bookstores or galleries."

Zines are typically associated with punk music and alternative scenes, often used to communicate insider information, gossip or social/political commentary within those tight-knit communities. Save for a few small local makers, Spokane lacked a space for zine creators to come together and share ideas.

When Martin and her partner Ian Amberson moved to the Inland Northwest from Northern California, they quickly realized they missed the community that they'd found at zine fests held in Los Angeles and the Bay Area and wanted the same for Spokane.

"Our first year, in 2017, really mirrored the idea of someone making a zine," says Amberson, co-founder of the festival. "It was all about putting yourself out there and taking responsibility for the production. We had no idea if it was going to have any pull with anyone or if anyone was going to be interested, but it's such an accessible medium so we figured we'd just try."

With help from a $1,200 grant from Spokane Arts, the first festival was held at The Bartlett with about 20 zine vendors in attendance. Zine Fest was held the next year in 2018 and once more in 2019, but hasn't happened since.

This year, the festival is back and is being held at the newly renovated Central Library on Saturday, May 13, with over 50 zine vendors from around the country, more than double the amount the fest had that first year.

"Zine culture sort of slowed down for a while because it's so easy to have a blog and say what you want to say online," Martin says. "There was no use for zines once blogs became popular. Now there's this sort of revival happening because of the frustrations people have surrounding the internet in general. People crave a counterculture and zines provide that."

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Zines may be small in size, but they can say a lot.

For Spokane Zine Fest's return after a three-year pause, Martin and Amberson have been working hard behind the scenes to make this year special for local zine lovers and makers alike.

The festival's main draw is six workshops happening throughout the day taught by local, regional, and national zine makers and illustrators.

"All of the workshops are based around alternative topics that you wouldn't normally find classes about," Martin says. "We have an LA-based zine maker named Eve Harms hosting a process-driven workshop, a pet illustration class by Keika Yamaguchi, who has done illustrations for Looney Tunes, Kate Lebo doing a recipe zine workshop. So much."

Spark Central, a creative education nonprofit located in Kendall Yards, is hosting a workshop for kids between the ages of 8 and 12 who are interested in trying their hand at zine-making.

"Zines have been this amazing form of expression and tool for marginalized communities to express themselves and to be able to share their voices with folks all over the place," says Wilson Faust, Spark Central's program director. "At Spark, for years, we've been using zines as a way to engage youth in sharing their voice with the community."

During the workshop, titled "Stories Outside My Window," kids are encouraged to create a mini zine sharing stories about home, real or imaginary. Mini zines are made out of one sheet of regular printer paper that, when folded, gives the creator a front page, a back page and six internal pages.

"Our focus for the workshop is to make sure the kids realize they can take stories, either from their real lives, or stories that they make up themselves, and put them on paper using this really cool format," Faust says. "It's exciting to have this opportunity, especially in the context of Zine Fest, of introducing kids to the power that a zine can have and being able to express yourself and use your voice."

Spark Central is home to the Bird's Nest Zine Library, a collection of zines that began as an anarchist zine library housed in the Community Building.

Today, the Bird's Nest Zine Library serves as a catalog of local and regional zines that range in content and style. Anyone who creates a zine can add it to the library, and it's always open to the public for browsing and reading.

"One thing I love about zines is that they can be about anything and everything," says Nicki Sabalu, Spark Central's resident zine specialist. "But they're also for everyone. Unlike other forms of publication, you go through someone else to share your stories. With zines, you make it yourself and tell the story exactly how you want."

Spark Central's staff and volunteers will be in attendance in myriad ways at Saturday's Zine Fest. Sabalu will be tabling in the vendor hall, showing off the Bird's Nest Zine Library's vast collection, and sharing some of her own zines with attendees.

"Zines are a lifeline," she says. "A way of connecting with other people. It's an honor to be able to share the world of zines with Spokane through Zine Fest." ♦

Spokane Zine Fest • Sat, May 13 from 11 am-4pm • Free • Central Library • 906 W. Main Ave. • spokanezinefest.com