Community members will come together to celebrate and explore zine culture at the Paper Plains Zine Fest, with events planned throughout Lawrence.
This year’s third annual event will be broken up into two days — Saturday, Aug. 31 and Sunday, Sept. 1 — with the first day focusing on programming, and a vendor fair on the second day.
All events are free to attend, though registration is required for Saturday’s workshops.
Day 1
One workshop, Camp Zine, will be hosted by Zach Frazier, art director of the Astringent Press and assistant professor of graphic design at the University of Missouri Kansas City. Participants will learn the process of creating a mini zine line from supplies and printing methods made available to them through the program. They will receive 12 copies of their mini zines via Astringent Press in the days following the camp. Camp Zine will run from 10 to 11:45 a.m. and 1 to 2:15 p.m at the KU Memorial Union. Registration is required; sign up at this link.
Another workshop is the Risograph Workshop by Monty Protest, an organizer of the festival. Participants will learn how to fold and cut mini zines, engage in a black-and-white collage process and print their zine in color. This workshop will go from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Chalmers Hall. Register for the Risograph Workshop at this link.
Participants can also attend a Q&A on publishing, hosted by Jessie Duke, owner of Bread & Roses Press, and Emily Rems, former editor-in-chief of BUST Magazine, from 10 to 11 a.m. at the KU Memorial Union, 1301 Jayhawk Blvd. Ecumenical Campus Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave., will host a veggie lunch from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m.
A reception will celebrate the release of Imagine Peace, a collaborative Risograph-printed zine project sponsored by the Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity and the KU Department of Design’s Colorbar RISOLAB. The event will run from 1:15 to 2 p.m. at the Spencer Museum of Art, 1301 Mississippi St.
There will be a screening of the film “Moxie,” followed by “an analytical conversation with Imani Wadud and Megan Williams.” That’s set for 2 to 5 p.m. at 10th & Mass Studios, 1000 Massachusetts St.
To round out the first day, there will be a panel starting at 6 p.m. in the Lawrence Public Library auditorium, followed by live music. The panel will feature Abby Bayani-Heitzman, Bones, Maura Dayton and Iain Ellis. Musical performances will include Cat F!ght, Caitlyn Grace and Alva Dean. Performances will run from 7:30 to 9 p.m.
Day 2
During the second day of the festival, community members can attend a vendor fair with more than 100 local and regional “zinesters,” according to the festival’s Instagram.
At the event, vendors will exhibit, sell and trade their independently published zines, pamphlets, comics, books and more. There will be additional workshops and opportunities for kids to make free zines. The event will be from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Van Go, 715 New Jersey St.
Admission to the vendor fair is free, but organizers encourage attendees to purchase zines from artists.
Organizers encourage folks to bring cash to purchase zines, though many creators will be able to accept cards or online payments as well. Zines are generally priced between $1 and $15, according to the festival’s website.
Food trucks, including JB’s Tacos and Hazel’s Hawaiian Shave Ice, will also be at the fair.
ECM will host a veggie dinner starting at 6 p.m. Following that at 8 p.m., A Night of Poetry and Prose will feature Adam Gnade, Andrew Hykel Mears, Joshua Jones, Bodye and Dmitry Samarov.
More information, details about panelists and full schedules for both days are available on the festival’s Instagram, @paperplainszinefest, and website, paperplainszinefest.com.
See photos and a video from last year’s event at this link.
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Natasha Torkzaban (she/her), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since June 2023, is a recent graduate of Lawrence High School. She was an editor-in-chief of The Free Press at Free State High School before becoming an editor-in-chief for The Budget at Lawrence High School for 2023-24. Read her work for the Times here.
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