Zine Libguide: Home

Zines (pronounced "zeens") are self-published, small-batch works filled with original work—ranging from personal stories to radical manifestos. Made using DIY techniques like photocopying, collage, and risograph printing, zines embrace imperfection, encourage creativity, and give voice to underrepresented perspectives. The origins of zines go back to the 1930s and 1940s, when sci-fi fans started making amateur publications where they shared fan fiction, commentary, and correspondence with other fans. The zine movement really took off in the 1970s and 1980s, when zines became a key tool for queer, feminist, anarchist, and other underground movements to communicate and organize. Over the decades, zines have been central to underground cultures, offering a space for marginalized voices and DIY communities to foster activism, identity exploration, and artistic expression across music, politics, art, and personal storytelling.