Zines aren’t dead!

I checked out Toronto's new zine fair and it made me feel so alive.

When Broken Pencil magazine abruptly shut down in 2024, it took Canzine, one of the country’s largest zine and small press fairs, with it.

Since its debut 1995, Canzine was one of the most important events for Canadian underground artists, writers, and DIY publishers. Running for nearly 20 years in Toronto, this event drew independent creators from all over Ontario and beyond to sell, share, and celebrate alternative culture in Canada.

The collapse of Broken Pencil, which hosted Canzine, has left a significant gap in the DIY community. Canzine made space for marginalized artists whose voices don’t often have a table in mainstream art and publishing.

But this November, a new zine fair arrived in Toronto. Zine Dump made it debut on Sunday, November 9 at 58 Cecil Street. Boasting an impressive market of over 60 vendors, Zine Dump shows that print media isn’t dead.

I started attending Canzine when I was in high school, which is also when I started making zines. For years, Canzine was an event I looked forward to every fall. Some years I went as a vendor, and some as a supporter, but no matter how I was showing up, I was always excited. I love zines for many reasons, mainly because they inspire me so much. There is no limit on what a zine can be about, and being in a room full of zine creators who have brought their ideas to life gives me such a rush.

This is art for the sake of art.
This is a labour of love.
This is a commitment to creativity.
This the prioritization of information over profit.

I was worried about Zine Dump because the weather was quite terrible: We had our first major (and early) snow fall of the season. But the place was packed when I arrived, so much so that the aisled were shoulder-to-shoulder at times. Canzine used to get that like, too, but it’s been a while and I’d forgotten how rammed zine fairs can get.

Immediately I was relieved: Zines aren’t dead! People will trek out in a snowstorm just to be near them.

I’d gone in on a budget (which is always necessary at zine fairs - it’s so easy to buy, buy, buy) which meant I had to be choosy about what I took home. It was hard to pick with the variety of vendors: There was Scizr, a companion publication for Toronto’s self-described “filthiest” Sapphic party in town; Good Luck Press, which publishes experimental role-playing games in zine form; and a ton of interesting one-off zines about people’s favourite bands, actors, and more.

I’ve always got a soft spot for punk zines, which ended up being my first purchases. Cotton Mouth and Licentia are two zines that are working to document the Toronto punk scene. Zines are not dead, and punk isn’t, either: Both of these zines are informative guides to Toronto’s counterculture. Focusing on music, art, politics, and forward-thinking, the creators behind these zines are keeping the spirit of punk alive.

I was particularly drawn to the opening of Cotton Mouth:

“Having a digital record of a subculture taking place is useless and uninformative.” Wow! I think it’s easy to assume that younger generations are totally caught up in online culture, but honestly, every person I meet who is younger than me gives me so much hope for the future. Especially when they’re out there making zines and making statements like this.

The other punk zine I grabbed is The Solidarity With Palestine in Punk Scenes by Chen Wei-Lun. Chen is the member of Suck Glue Boy, a punk collective in Taipei, Taiwan. I am looking forward to reading this zine because I know it’s going to teach me a lot.

My last grab of the day was Film Fvckers, a zine I’ve been watching from a distance since its first issue. I grabbed Issue #2 because when I flipped it open, it landed on an article titled “The Art of Browsing,” all about looking through video stores. My husband has a substantial VHS and DVD collection; whenever we go thrifting, he spends 90% of his time looking for videos.

Physical media and analog film culture is a major focus of Film Fvckers, and so fits right up our alley at home. It also reminded me of the time I interviewed Tony Crouch of VHS is Life about cleaning and preserving VHS tapes.

While A.I. and other forms of technology seem to dominate every aspect of our lives, Zine Dump affirmed my belief that there is still a love for physical media, and that many younger creators are gravitating to it just as much as older generations.

I hope Zine Dump returns next year (hey, maybe I’ll even apply to be a vendor next time around) and that it only gets bigger every time. I left feeling inspired, uplifted, and excited for Canadian zine culture, which seems just as strong as it’s always been.