Forest of Zine is a bicycle-based mobile/pop-up zine library that showcases a selection of zines that are nature-based and/or capture journeys through the world (whether those journeys are physical, emotional or metaphysical). The collection is taken into forests (big and small) and other green spaces to enable people to engage with the collection in nature and encourage them to make their own zines. The library seeks to amplify marginalised voices and this is a focus when sourcing zines for the collection. See ‘Questions and Answers‘ for information about zines and the background of Forest of Zine.

2025

Between Supernormal Festival and the following mini cycle tour and Spring 2025 I finished the Forest of Zine quilt, properly. It’s hanging in my house waiting to go out on some adventures with the collection. This, helping to create an online catalogue of the collection (https://forestofzine.omeka.net/) and working on becoming a qualified librarian have taken up the first few months of this year. I’ve recently heard from CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) that I’m now a Chartered member and have just found out that I’m going to be starting a job as a librarian at UWE (University of the West of England) in September. I’ll be working in their arts library two days a week and they have a zine collection, as well as artists books and other exciting things, so I’m looking forward to that. I’m still updating the online catalogue and have another lot of new zines to add from Glasgow Zine Festival as well as many others that have been sitting around waiting to be added for some time!

I’ve been working on some zine templates for local green and other spaces that people can use to map their experience of these and record everyday nature. I’ve also designed some Forest of Zine membership cards, which saw their first outing at Glasgow Zine Fest at the beginning of July. I’ve also booked on a course to learn how to build a physical library (in the form of a tiny house) for the collection, I just need to work out where I’m going to build it and where I’ll keep it when it’s made, but like all things, this will come over time!

Highlights from Forest of Zine 2024 (a full list of events can be found here):

The library appeared at Supernormal festival this year, 2nd to 4th August.

I then took it on a follow-up summer cycle tour to visit a few sights, including Knepp Rewilding Project, on the way to my parents home in West Sussex.

I facilitated a Zines as Research Dissemination event at the University of the West of England (UWE) as part of a friends PhD seminar series related to nature connection.

The Forest of Zine Inaugural Cycle Tour from Aberystwyth to Forest of Dean for international Zine Library day took place from 14th to 21st of July, stopping off at various venues on the way and ending up in the Forest of Dean.

Zine and Literature Fest, organised by Myth & Lore Zine and Rockaway Park on 18th May was the first outing of the Forest of Zine quilt and it was suitably admired and gave the library a sense of place and comfort.

The Quilting Bee I organised on 24th March at the Nissan Hut in Eastville Park, Bristol was a great success, with many friends coming together to contribute to the Forest of Zine quilt.

The Collection

Forest of Zine is growing rapidly, with a big stack of zines in my ‘to read’ pile to be added to the collection after I’ve contacted the authors for permission. I got the most zines in one day, by far, from the wonderful Over Here Zine Fest (a “not-for-profit event showcasing the work of global majority zine makers, artists, writers and activists”) in September 2023 in Manchester, where I (mostly) bought 29 zines (some were free)! This followed a visit to my friend Rosie’s amazing Shelf Life Books and Zines (“a not-for-profit radical bookshop in Cardiff working with independent publishers and DIY zine-makers to make space for marginalised and under-represented voices”) in Cardiff, where I bought another good stack of zines to add to the collection! A visit to Cardiff Zine Fest in November 2023, organised by Shelf Life Books and Zines and Art Hole, both based in Cardiff, was also another excellent source of zines. I’ve also been getting some online as well as attending other zine events and they do tend to pop up all over the place.

Highlights from Forest of Zine 2023 (a full list of events can be found here):

16.09.2023 Ecstatic Drum Beats World Cup, Shift, Cardiff

Ecstatic Drum Beats World Cup, organised by Dan Johnson, at Shift in Cardiff took place on Saturday 16th September from 6pm. This was an indoor event with a range of amazing artists (including Pam Rose Cott and Liquid Library) displaying their works and performing as well as the Ecstatic Drum Beats World Cup itself.

18.08.2023 Royal Fort Gardens, University of Bristol

Royal Fort Gardens at the University of Bristol on Friday 18th August from 11am to 2pm by Hollow, a sculpture by Katie Paterson, which “houses a miniature forest of all the worlds trees”. The location can be found by using what3words ///points.woods.buzz or search “Hollow – Katie Paterson” on your map app!

23.07.2023 Launch – Ashton Hill Plantation, near Bristol

The launch of Forest of Zine took place on Sunday 23rd July, as close to International Zine Library day as possible. The location can be found using what3words ///chained.rides.ideal