Hot summer, amazing art, lots of travel, global atrocities, the constant struggle to stay oriented towards justice and beauty and care, zines? Let’s go:
The Writings of Shahd Alnaami, Gaza 2024
Israel continue to commit genocide in Palestine. One thing I appreciate about having been raised Quaker is growing up with a belief that when you see injustice and oppression in the world, you have, actually, a pretty strong obligation to act. If you are hearing less about Gaza lately, it is only because many Palestinian journalists have been deliberately killed, communications infrastructure has also been targeted, and people are struggling to just stay alive. It is difficult to imagine taking on the burden that Palestinians in Gaza are doing, of continuing to share news and photographs and livestreams of their grief, their loss, their hungry children, the violent deaths of their loved ones. The absolute least we can do is to not look away, and I hope you agree that we actually owe the people of Gaza much more than that.
Shahd Alnaami is a Palestinian writer based in Gaza. She is an English literature and translation student at the Islamic University of Gaza, currently living amid the hardship of the genocide.
This 28-page, half-letter size zine collects Shahd’s writing, both nonfiction and poetry, about her experiences of the most recent years of the ongoing genocide of Palestinians. Her writing immortalizes some of what has been lost, with precision and grace.
100% of the price you pay for this zine will be sent to Shahd. If you prefer, you can also give directly to her GoFundMe. If you email me at lee@sheerspite.ca with a screenshot of a donation of at least $20 CAD, I will be happy to email you the digital version of the zine or mail you a print version.
At home here in Montreal, a group of lovely people, including some of my friends, were arrested protesting one of the Canadian banks that is heavily invested in an Israeli weapons manufacturer. They are fundraising for their legal fees: can you help?
new stuff:
as always, there are many beautiful new zines for you to peruse:
on being the same kind of girl: a trans dyke love story in words and pictures, by KS & JG
“Two lovers tell the story of their life together across the US/Canada border alongside black-and-white photographs of their landscapes and sex. Through letters and conversations they reflect on what is special to them about love between trans women and compare notes on their relationships with their rural communities, dykehood and sisterhood, their trans moms, their bodies, and their hopes for the future.”
Many Gods, No Masters: Reflections on the Intersections of Anarchism and Spirituality:
“A zine exploring how mysticism and spiritual traditions can enrich anarchist practice. It challenges the centrality of secularism in European radical spaces, offering a vision of spirituality that is neither dogmatic nor appropriative but rooted in liberation.”
print (free or a dollar + shipping) || digital (free)
two new ones from Cindy Baruch Milstein:
Shades of Love:
Originally written for a never-published anarchist anthology on love, this is a “a poetic, hopefully tender “love letter” of sorts from me to you, my sweet fellow rebels.”
print (free or a dollar + shipping) || digital (free)
Ritual As Resistance: 18 Stories of Defending the Sacred:
“A sampler of some of the modest ways that anarchistic people from varied traditions” go about “defending the sacred” through “rebellious spiritualities.”
print (free or a dollar + shipping) || digital (free)
Four by Lex Kartanė
- The Unconventional Autistic Survival Toolkit
- Autistic Burnout
- Demon: A story about criminalisation of people with mental health issues and cognitive differences
- Dog in the Hospital
treats from europe
These ones have extremely limited stock (only one or two copies each!), so if any of them interest you, grab them asap:
- Three art zines on ecology, wild European forests, and the inevitability of death, from Postindustial Animism
- Six on flirting, cruising, Berlin summer fun, and mapping the way to liberation, from Club de bridge
Three colourful tributes to DIY life from Juliette Patissier:
Upcoming events:
montréal queer + trans book + zine swap
If you’re in or around Montreal, I’m co-hosting a book and zine swap with my friends at Dick’s Lending Library.
- Parc Lafontaine, corner of Sherbrooke + papineau.
- 2-5 pm, Saturday, July 26
- rain date: Sunday, July 27
Hope to see you there!
(also, if you want to buy something from sheer spite and pick it up from me there, use the code SWAPPINLAFONTAINE, and you won’t be charged shipping.)
more events:
- Chicago Zine Fest (Chicago, IL, July 19: I will not be there in person, but the fair kindly arranged for another vendor, the wonderful L Reeves/Plantfather, to vend my zines for me at their table! Zine people are the best.)
- Sappyfest Zine Fair (Sackville, NB, August 1)
- Zine Dream (Toronto, ON, August 16)
have a nice summer, stay hydrated, rest up, read zines in the shade!
xoxoxo lee
