CZF 2019

Chicago Zine Fest 2019 will be our 10th year — please plan on celebrating with us! CZF 2019 will take place over three days: May 16-18. Our Exhibition Day will be held on Saturday, May 18 at Plumbers Union Hall (1340 W Washington Blvd) in the West Loop.

All events during CZF weekend are always FREE and open to the public.

Thursday, May 16, 2019
Zine Archives Visit and Zines + Social Justice Panel

Saturday, May 18, 2019
CZF 2019 Exhibition Day! (and after party!)

Celebrate our 10th anniversary at #CZF2019 Exhibition Day on Saturday, May 18 from 11:00am  – 6:00pm

Join more than 250 self-publishers to buy and trade zines and comics! Enjoy a panel with moderator Anna Vo exploring the relationship between women/non-binary folks of color and horror, goth, and the occult; a workshop on alternative binding techniques with Beth Hetland of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; hands-on activities for all ages by Ag47, The Wasteshed and Spudnik Press Cooperative; GlitterGuts Photobooth; food trucks by Chicago Pizza Boss and Twisted Classics; reading room; introverts’ zine swap; Read/Write Library’s BiblioTreka, Chicago Books to Women in Prison, Haircuts 4 Change and more!

Our Workshop and Panel lineup:

12:00 – 1:00pm – Exploring Darkness
This panel will address being women/nonbinary folks of color and its relationship to horror, goth, the occult, and its possible connections to navigating trauma, oppression, and fighting for our lives. Panel participants are Luz Magdaleno Flores and Luz Saldaña, the hosts of Radio Luzifer, a bilingual horror podcast, and Shanna Collins, writer and all-round badass. The panel will be facilitated by Anna Vo of Fix My Head and Distortion zine, and An Out Recordings.

1:30 – 2:30 p.m. – Voices and Allyship: New and Emerging Trans Artists Speak
Panelists will share about the emergence of their work, who has supported the expansion of trans creators’ work in Chicago in recent years, and what allyship means to them.

3:00 – 4:00 p.m.  – Ama-ZINE Alternative Book Binding
Join Beth Hetland, cartoonist & SAIC professor, in this hands-on workshop where you’ll learn unique and interactive book formats. You’ll see examples of exciting and inventive designs from Beth’s collection as well as learn new structures that take inspiration from a variety of areas, including: scrapbooking, origami, zines, comics, and traditional book binding methods.

4:30 – 5:30 p.m. CHIPRC’s Zine Club: Baby’s First Zine Edition
Chicago’s only book club-style event for people who read zines comes to CZF! Bring one of the first zines you made or read and join in the fun discussion. CHIPRC’s Zine Club is produced by CZF organizer Cynthia E. Hanifin. Sponsored by Quimby’s Bookstore.

Free parking is available in the Plumbers Union Hall lot.

Thank you to our Saturday event sponsors!

Saturday, May 18, 2019
CZF 2019 Official Afterparty!

Accessibility at CZF 2019

During the weekend of CZF 2019, we will be holding events at various venues. Here are details about accessibility at each venue. If you have questions or needs regarding accessibility, please reach out to us at chicagozinefest@gmail.com or ask a Chicago Zine Fest volunteer at our events.

John T. Richardson Library and Levan Center at DePaul University
All buildings are accessible and have elevators to the event spaces. The event at the John T. Richardson Library is on the third floor; the event at the Levan Center is on the first floor. Interior  and exterior walkways connect the two buildings. The Levan Center event space has tiered seating; the top tier of the room has accessible seating. All bathrooms are accessible and gender-neutral.

Quimby’s Bookstore
The entrance is accessible. The event takes place on the first floor. There is a public restroom that is available, but not accessible because it is down one flight of stairs. The event will be standing room only, but chairs will be available upon request. We will reserve space in the front of the room for those in need of accessible seating.

Cards Against Humanity Theater
The event takes place on the first floor. There is a portable ramp available at the main entrance and a side entrance that is fully accessible. There will be reserved seats in the front row that are accessible. The bathrooms are accessible.

Plumbers Union Hall
The entrance is accessible. The bathrooms are accessible and gender-neutral. There is an elevator in the main lobby that goes up to the exhibition space, which is on the second floor, and to the mezzanine.

Emporium Arcade Bar Logan Square
The entrance is accessible. The bathrooms also are accessible. This event is free, but the venue is 21+.

Service animals are, of course, welcome at all of our events. Our venues cannot accommodate other animals.

CZF 2019 artwork

The poster artist for our 10th anniversary is Neil Brideau. Neil self-publishes kid-friendly comics in Miami, Florida, and runs the distro Radiator Comics. When he lived in Chicago, Neil worked at Quimby’s Bookstore for six years, and helped found Chicago Zine Fest and Chicago Alternative Comics Expo. He is currently a ProjectArt Artist In Residence at the Shenandoah Branch of the Miami-Dade Public Library System (his local branch), where he works on his comics and teaches art classes to elementary and middle-school students.

Read more than 400 pages of Neil’s comics at neilbrideau.com and check out his distro at  radiatorcomics.com.

Check out our CZF 2019 window display at Quimby’s!

Our CZF 2019 poster has come to life in the window of Quimby’s Bookstore! Artist Rachel McPadden designed the display based on Neil Brideau’s poster art, and CZF organizer Anna Jo Beck created the signage. Stop in at Quimby’s, 1854 W. North Ave. in Wicker Park, to take a look!