The Richmond Zine Fest, to be held on Saturday, April 28th will be the first ever in the city in 13 years. A zine fest is being held in hopes of creating a network amongst current zine writers and distro owners in Richmond and Virginia (plus the Southern/Mid-Atlantic regions) and raising awareness and encouraging the creation of zines, independent press, and other D.I.Y. endeavors in Richmond. Forty zine writers and distros will be vending at the zine fest, which will be held at two venues on the 1600 block of West Broad Street - The Firehouse Theatre (1609 West Broad Street) and The Camel (1621 West Broad Street, a new community space and restaurant). The majority of the zine writers vending are from Richmond and Virginia, although there are several vendors who are from the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as New York, and the West Coast.

There will be workshops and several people reading from their zines or books at the zine fest. Below are the workshops and readings scheduled as of April 2nd, 2007.

The following workshops will be held at The Firehouse Theatre:

+ Zine Making 101, taught by Julie Philp of the zine Scratch Itch, will be held from 10:30-11:30am.

The following readings will be at The Firehouse Theatre location and will include:

+ The Dreams & Ideals Radical Mama Book tour will be making a stop at the Richmond Zine Fest from 12-2pm at The Firehouse Theatre location. The tour features China Martens, editor of the long-running punk parenting zine The Future Generation reading from her book The Future Generation: The Zine-Book for Subculture Parents, Kids, Friends & Others (China also contributes a column to the long-running Richmond zine Slug & Lettuce); Ariel Gore of the zine Hip Mama (hipmama.com) will be performing from her book How To Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead: Your Words in Print and Your Name in Lights; and Annie Downey will be reading from her novel Hot and Bothered, “a Cinderella story for single moms.”

+ Sarah Rose will be reading from an upcoming issue of her zine Tazewell’s Favorite Eccentric at 2:30pm. This upcoming issue is about casual sex, and is not appropriate for children and may be triggering for survivors of sexual abuse. Sarah Rose also writes the zines Crushpuppy and Zinetopia.

+ Alex Wrekk will be reading from the twenty-first and latest issue of her zine Brainscan at 2:45pm. Alex also writes the zine I’m a Wrekk, and authored Stolen Sharpie Revolution: A D.I.Y. Zine Resource. The fourth edition of Stolen Sharpie Revolution will be published in Summer 2007 by Fall of Autumn (fallofautumn.com) to celebrate the book’s 5-year anniversary.

Richmond’s own Mo’Book Mo’Bike Mobile will be parked outside the zine fest from 1-5pm and accepting zine, book, and bike part donations. The Mo’Book Mo’Bike Mobile is a part of the new Books on Wheels project started by Ward Tefft at Chop Suey and Shelley at Richmond Re-Cycles.

There will be a show after the Richmond Zine Fest at The Camel (1621 West Broad Street) featuring the bands Now Sleepyhead, Snorklewacker and singer-songwriter Erin Tobey. The show will start at 6pm and admission is $6.

For more information about the Richmond Zine Fest, visit richmondzinefest.com.