Zine fair returns to Inverleigh

SOMETIMES quirky, sometimes subversive, the talents of zinesters from near and far will be on display when Inverleigh hosts ZINEverleigh next month.

Set for Saturday 11 July in the Inverleigh Town Hall, the country town zine fair is returning for its fourth year as the artform of small-circulation, self-published booklets or magazines enjoys a strong sub-cultural following.

Organiser and local zinester Bec Wilson said there’ll be lots of stallholders and refreshments available, with some of the state’s top zine talent on show.

“There’s definitely plenty of people who like this style of art and comics, and there’s a really broad range,” Wilson said.

She said grassroots zine content typically ranges from the political and satirical to the observational, often delving into serious topics in an approachable or entertaining way.

They often lean into the whimsical or comedic, overlapping with commentative artforms like the funny cartoons.

“The history is a bit more political and a bit more punk, and our stallholders are a diverse community,” she said.

“It’s a way of publishing a message that doesn’t have controlling interests in it.”

“It’s grassroots and very accessible and it may be just one piece of paper cleverly folded into a little booklet as a low-cost giveaway.

“We’ve got about 40 stallholders this year and the Inverleigh play group will be hosting a cake stall.”

A poetry workshop space, hot coffee, soup and plant stalls are also planned for the fair that runs from 11am to 3pm.

“We will have many different zinesters represented from Ballarat, Melbourne and Geelong areas mostly but also some from further afield,” Wilson said.

“Zine culture is a bit of a niche kind of crowd. There are some really big zine fairs that happen all over the country including Melbourne’s Festival of the Photocopier that happens early in the year.”

Zines are typically created by individuals or small groups and printed using basic methods like home printers or photocopiers.