In a digitally saturated world where we are connected to our devices but often disconnected from each other, zines offer a vital opportunity for self-expression and community-building. These independently published—and often handmade—magazines will be the stars of the first Mojave Zine Fest, which will take place Friday and Saturday, May 15 and 16.
The fest will kick off on Friday with a reading and celebration at Mas o Menos in Joshua Tree, followed by a day-long zine fair on Saturday at Corner 62 in Twentynine Palms. The event is designed for zine readers, writers and those who are just curious to connect and celebrate do-it-yourself media. Saturday will feature more than 20 local and visiting zine makers offering their work for sale or trade; a zine-making workshop led by artist and zine publisher Jillian Sandell; a panel discussion delving into queer zines, both past and present; and an afternoon creativity workshop facilitated by artist Walker Mettling.
The high desert is home to a vibrant community of artists and writers with a famously independent and iconoclastic spirit, but the Mojave Zine Fest is a first for the area. Organized by Natalie Raymond and Rita Lilly, both local artists and zine makers, the festival fills an important gap in the high desert’s cultural calendar. Lilly, a member of the Public Arts Advisory Committee in Twentynine Palms and the Sun Spot artist co-op in Joshua Tree, explained why the desert and zines make a strong pairing.
“There’s something inspiring about the desert that just makes people want to create,” Lilly said.
Zines are especially compelling to Lilly, because the medium “helps give people a voice, whether through drawing, painting, writing, photographs, or their political voice. Zines are an open playing field.”
While zines have been around for decades, if not centuries, they are experiencing a newfound popularity as people turn away from commercial, digital platforms toward forms of expression that feel authentic. The resurgence of interest in zines is partially a “reaction to and rejection of the algorithm,” according to Sarah Bennett, a zine maker who’s a professor of journalism and media studies at Santa Ana College; Bennett is also the co-founder of community print shop PLACE Long Beach and the Long Beach Zine Fest.
Zines are an accessible medium for all types of storytelling.
“It’s a form of resistance to tell your own story in your own way,” Sandell said. “The personal is political, and zines are connected to stories that don’t get published in the mainstream press, and (stories) from those who are often marginalized.”
An artist who regularly leads zine-making workshops, Sandell’s workshop at the Mojave Zine Fest will include a brief history of zines. Sandell will explain how to use a zine as a starting point to start a larger project or explore a big idea, and enable participants to make a mini-zine.
Zines have roots in varied sources, including political pamphlets distributed during the American Revolution; 1930s science-fiction fan zines; 1970s community-oriented publications focused on feminist, LGBTQ and Black liberation; and 1980s magazines covering the punk scene. Contemporary zines are as diverse as their predecessors, but share a common thread—telling a story and sharing a perspective that may be shut out of mainstream media, art and bookstores.
“There’s always room for more zines. They are small and cheaply made, and it’s a welcoming environment with a low bar of access.”
Brooke Palmieri, part of the panel on queer zines at the fest
“Digital media is incredibly unstable, and print media is subject to the censorship of the market, but people have to respond to crises by printing and disseminating information themselves,” said Brooke Palmieri, who will be part of the panel on queer zines at the fest. Palmieri is a resident of Joshua Tree, an author and historian whose CAMP BOOKS imprint promotes access to queer and trans history through rare archival materials, zines and installations.
“In every place and time, there are people who need to seize the means of production and of storytelling,” Palmieri said.
Community-building is a central aspect of zine culture and publishing.
“Writing can be very solitary, and zines flip that on its head,” Palmieri said. “You write alone, but never in a vacuum, as you’re writing to others.”
Palmieri has connected with fellow zine makers in places like London, Berlin and Athens, learning that zines enable their creators to “get to know your neighbors and feel like you have neighbors all over the world.”
Whether international or hyperlocal, zines are everywhere today,
“Now there are micro or niche zine fests down to the neighborhood level,” Bennett said. There are regular zine fests throughout Southern California, in San Bernardino, Ontario, San Diego, Los Angeles, Long Beach and Anaheim.
Whether you are an experienced zine maker or curious to get started, attending a zine fest is a great first step to become more involved with a local community of creators.
“There’s always room for more zines,” Palmieri said. “They are small and cheaply made, and it’s a welcoming environment with a low bar of access.”
Organizers hope to grow Mojave Zine Fest into an annual event.
“My hope is that writers will come and see that it is easy to take the means of production into their own hands if they desire,” Palmieri said. “There’s a strong tradition in the desert of people self-publishing—and celebrating, amplifying and strengthening that is great.”
Zines play an important role in challenging political repression and facilitating community connection.
“A free society doesn’t exist without freedom of information,” Bennett said. “Making zines is resistance. On a fundamental level, zines are a way to get verified information on paper that those in power do not want out there. What a time to be making zines—they matter now more than ever.”
The Mojave Zine Fest will take place on Friday and Saturday, May 15 and 16, in Joshua Tree and Twentynine Palms. Admission is free, but RSVPs are encouraged. Learn more and RSVP at mojavezinefest.com.