Zine Club Chicago

05/28/2026

SAVE THE DATE! South Side Zine Fest returns this summer with even more fun! This year, Zine Club Chicago is bringing a carnival vibe to our annual celebration of zine community on the South Side of Chicago.

We're planning some amazing workshops, programming, and zine-themed carnival activities, along with community-focused tabling by local zine distros and artists, stations for zine and button making, and more. Free! All ages!

South Side Zine Fest + Carnival will be held at 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, August 15, 2026 at the Richard J. Daley branch of the Chicago Public Library, 3400 S. Halsted St. in Bridgeport. More info coming soon to zineclubchicago.com

05/27/2026

We had an amazing time with y’all at our Southwest Side Zine Library Launch Party on Saturday! Thank you to everyone who joined us to check out our new collection of self-published titles at the Archer Heights branch of the Chicago Public Library.

We’re grateful to our very own Zine Doctor, Liz Mason, for offering sage self-publishing advice and lollipops to attendees, and to the awesome zinemakers who joined Liz in donating entire collections of their work to the zine library: Keidra Chaney and the Wild Ramp Publishing artists, Jeff of Around Town With the Ten Eighty-Six (happy 3rd anniversary!), and Ed Kemp of The Word Distro. Rosamund Lannin, Lazer Attack, branch manager Jami, and several anonymous donors generously helped stack our shelves with great titles, as well.

We’d also like to thank Jeannine, Marissa, Jami, and the rest of the Archer Heights branch staff for hosting us. Anna Jo Beck of Zine-a-Month, who designed our gorgeous logo for the zine library, is our forever fave.

The Southwest Side Zine Library is permanently housed at the Archer Heights branch, 5505 S. Archer Ave., so feel free to stop in anytime to browse the zines and make your own!

More info at zineclubchicago.com.

05/23/2026

Want a free Southwest Side Zine Library sticker? You can snag one this Saturday at the Southwest Side Zine Library Launch Party for our new zine library in Archer Heights!

Please join us at 2-4 p.m. Saturday, May 23 at the Archer Heights branch of the Chicago Public Library, 5055 S. Archer Ave! Folks of all ages are invited to peruse the zine library, make zines, Ask the Zine Doctor (aka our own Liz Mason), enjoy snax, and more. Free!

Thank you to Chicago artist and Zine Club Chicago founding member Anna Jo Beck, who created the Southwest Side Zine Library logo with artistic inspiration from Mexican papel picado and Polish wycinanki.

More info at zineclubchicago.com and chipublib.org

05/01/2026

We're thrilled to announce our brand-new Southwest Side Zine Library! This free community resource, stocked with self-published titles of all kinds, will be permanently housed at the Archer Heights branch of the Chicago Public Library.

Please join us to celebrate at our Southwest Side Zine Library Launch Party, 2-4 p.m. Saturday, May 23 at the Archer Heights branch, 5055 S. Archer Ave! Folks of all ages are invited to peruse the zine library, make zines, Ask the Zine Doctor (aka our own Liz Mason), enjoy snax, and more. Free!

If you’re new to the Archer Heights neighborhood, the library is just northwest of the Pulaski stop on the Orange Line. More info at zineclubchicago.com and chipublib.org

Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago. This free community event series is produced by founder Cynthia Elizabeth Hanifin. If you’re in the Bridgeport neighborhood, please visit our South Side Zine Library at the Richard J. Daley branch of the Chicago Public Library, 3400 S. Halsted St.

Thank you to the staff of the Archer Heights branch of the Chicago Public Library and all of our friends who donated materials for the Southwest Side Zine Library. We’d like to give a special shout out to Anna Jo Beck, who created the Southwest Side Zine Library logo with artistic inspiration from Mexican papel picado and Polish wycinanki.

03/28/2026

TOMORROW!! 🍭✂️

Got a sweet tooth for perzines? Don’t miss the very first event by Sugar Hijinx, Chicago’s brand-new zine distro!

Zine Club Chicago will be teaming up with Sugar Hijinx for a pop-up event on Sunday, March 29 at Ridman's Coffee, 4758 N. Clark St. Zine shopping will be open from 12 to 3 p.m., and we’ll be co-hosting a free Zine Club Chicago Zinemaking Hangout with Sugar Hijinx!from 3 to 5 p.m.

Drop in anytime to browse some great titles and make zines with us! You might get the chance to meet some of the artists whose work Sugar Hijinx will be featuring, as well.

Sugar Hijinx is a Chicago-based pop-up distro specializing in perzines, with a selection curated by Liz Mason (Caboose) and Cynthia Elizabeth Hanifin (Zine Club Chicago).

More info at zineclubchicago.com

03/19/2026

Got a sweet tooth for perzines? Don’t miss the very first event by Sugar Hijinx, Chicago’s brand-new zine distro!

Zine Club Chicago will be teaming up with Sugar Hijinx for a pop-up event on Sunday, March 29 at Ridman's Coffee, 4758 N. Clark St. Zine shopping will be open from 12 to 3 p.m., and we’ll be co-hosting a free Zine Club Chicago Zinemaking Hangout with Sugar Hijinx!from 3 to 5 p.m.

Drop in anytime to browse some great titles and make zines with us! You might get the chance to meet some of the artists whose work Sugar Hijinx will be featuring, as well.

Sugar Hijinx is a Chicago-based pop-up distro specializing in perzines, with a selection curated by Liz Mason (Caboose) and Cynthia Elizabeth Hanifin (Zine Club Chicago).

More info at zineclubchicago.com

02/10/2026

Show Us Your Stacks is BACK! Our annual exploration of how we self-publishing enthusiasts organize our personal collections returns online this month. Whether you’re a meticulous cataloguer, a creator of haphazard piles, or something in between, we want to know about the ways you arrange, display, and categorize your zines.

Get your home stash in order (or leave it messy), BYOS(tacks + Snax) and join us on Zoom for Zine Club Chicago Online: Show Us Your Stacks! at 7 p.m. CT Thursday, February 19, 2026!

** RSVP required ** We want to make sure that our online Zine Club Chicago events are a safe space, so we won’t be releasing the Zoom link publicly. If you’d like to attend, please email [email protected] to RSVP by 5 p.m. CT Wednesday, February 18 (the evening before our event). We’ll email you the Zoom link by 5 p.m. CT on Thursday, February 19.

Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago. This free community event series is produced by Cynthia E. Hanifin. Anna Jo Beck is the creative force behind our visuals. Liz Mason is our indispensable co-conspirator.

More info at zineclubchicago.com

01/31/2026

So cute!! We'll see y'all there. 💘

Hey Chicago, let's meet up for a Valen-ZINE event!! 💖 Join us Saturday February 7th for zine trading, zine making, and meeting other zinesters. We'll be celebrating love of all kinds, not just romantic. Thanks very much to for hosting us!! 🤍

Drop in anytime between 3–6 pm on Saturday February 7th at the Marz taproom in McKinley Park. We'd love to have you!!

12/06/2025

It's the most wonderful time of the year! That is, it's the time Liz Mason brings her annual Zine Club Chicago year in review zinemaking workshop to Zoom. For the third year in a row, join us online for this thoughtful and fun opportunity to make a time capsule that captures your own personal 2025.

Did you come to the past years of this ZCC workshop? If so, bring the zines you've made and see how things in your life have changed. And of course, happy to see you if you've never attended in the past. Grab your paper, a pen and some scissors, and we'll show this year the door!

Please join us on Zoom for Zine Club Chicago Online: It's Been a Year - Our Annual Online Zinemaking Workshop with Liz Mason at 7:30 pm CT Thursday, December 18, 2025! Info at zineclubchicago.com

** RSVP required ** We want to make sure that our online Zine Club Chicago events are a safe space, so we won’t be releasing the Zoom link publicly. If you’d like to attend, please email [email protected] to RSVP by 6 pm CT Wednesday, December 17 (the evening before our event). We’ll email you the Zoom link by 6 pm CT on Thursday, December 18.

Liz Mason, who is a founding member of Zine Club Chicago, has been self-publishing zines for almost three decades. Recent works include Caboose #15 I Was There, Awesome Things #4, Cul-de-sac #9 and The Most Unwanted Zine. Her work has also been published in such publications as The Chicago Tribune, Broken Pencil, Punk Planet, The Zine Yearbook, Third Coast Review and more. She managed Quimby’s Bookstore, home of wild and weird reading material in Chicago, from 2001-2025. In January 2025 she enrolled in the Master of Science in Library & Information Science program with a specialization in Archives and Records Management at Chicago State University. Catch her on 107.1 FM CHIRP Radio in Chicago, Wednesday mornings 6-9AM CT or co-hosting the podcast Rough Draft with Keidra and Liz. Find out more about Liz at lizmasonisawesome.com

Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are always welcome at Zine Club Chicago. This free community event series is produced by Cynthia Elizabeth Hanifin. Anna Jo Beck is the creative force behind our visuals. Liz Mason is our indispensable co-conspirator.

10/28/2025

We had a tremendous time at our Bodies on the Page Panel & Zine Release Party this month! Thank you to everyone who made the event such an inspiring and empowering experience. Our appreciation goes out to our panelists, all of the zine’s contributors, our curator Jamie Kadas Curvy Girl Comics, Jeremy Kitchen and the staff of the Richard J. Daley branch of the Chicago Public Library, Chicago Children's Advocacy Center, and all of the attendees who joined in on our discussion and zinemaking activities.

If you’d like to watch a recording of our panel discussion, you can find it here: tinyurl.com/BOTP2panel

If you want to read Bodies on the Page 2 (and believe us, you do!), pop over to jamiekadas.com to snag your own copy or visit the South Side Zine Library located inside the Richard J. Daley branch library.

We’re planning some fun Zine Club Chicago events to close out the year! Keep an eye on this space and zineclubchicago.com for announcements about our upcoming in-person and online gatherings.