Queer Diary: Zine-making
We run zine-making as a fun way to explore and share queer coming-of-age memories through collaging, drawing, and creative writing.
These low-key crafty sessions require no previous experience, or special artistic skills. The workshops can take place in a cafe, bar, arts or community space.
As well as being a space for creative self-expression, zine-making sessions provide a relaxed environment for queer people to socialise, chat and bond.
All attendees are given craft materials plus verbal/visual instructions & hands-on facilitator support to make a zine for themselves.
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We also provide some inspiration - in the form of other LGBTQIA+ zines to look at - and ideas of prompts for for Queer Diary-themed zines.
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Example prompts:
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Write a letter to your teenage self. What would your teenage self write back?
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Make a fan-zine about a TV show, band, or anything you were obsessed with as a teenager. Why did you love it? How do you feel about it now?
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Illustrate the lyrics to your favourite song from when you were growing up.
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Collage your feelings about growing up as an LGBTQIA+ teen.
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Write a poem, inspired by something you remember saying, or hearing as a teen.
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Draw a cartoon of a 'queer awakening' or a 'coming out' story. Use true story, or a fantasy. Or tell MANY different coming out stories!
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Design a fantasy outfit based on how you'd have liked to look when you were 14. Would you dress like that now?
Zine-making is a great way to get creatively involved with the Queer Diary project (without getting up on stage at one of our open-mic diary-reading events!)
What's a zine?
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A leaflet-sized mini-magazine (the word zine is short for magazine!)
Originating in DIY culture, zines are traditionally home-made by writing, drawing, and collaging, and are sometimes printed in small batches, often for distribution amongst community groups.
Zines are often associated with subcultures, fan culture, and are popular amongst people who share non-mainstream ideas and/or marginalised identities.
First Queer Diary Zine (2020)
The first QD Zine was made in collaboration with Queer Diary participants who read their diaries on Zoom during lockdowns, and contributed snippets of their teenage writing to be featured in a collective zine.
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It was home-printed and distributed to ~100 people in 2020-21.
2024​
In 2024 we're delivering regular Queer Diary zine-making workshops for LGBTQIA+ adults, and offering the opportunity for Queer Diary participants to contribute to a new collective zine.
The 2024 Queer Diary zine will contain a mix of writing, drawings and collages made in workshops inspired by teenage memories, plus writing and artwork saved from participants own their teenage years.
For readers, the Queer Diary zine offers an intimate insight into several generations of young queer lives in years gone by, from contributors from a wide range of locations, backgrounds and queer identities.
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This zine will be published at an initial run of 500 copies, to be distributed at LGBTQIA+ community centres, pop-up libraries and bookshops.
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Poem by a Queer Diary Participant
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