Writers never set out with the goal of winning awards. They have a story that’s itching to be written and they won’t feel good until they pen it. That’s where it begins. Some write as therapy to better understand themselves and heal. Others write to shed more light on an issue or topic that is under told or misunderstood. Others to record family history. And others…
Lois P. Jones is a poet who has “walked alongside [Rainer Maria] Rilke since [she] began writing poetry,” she said in a Shoutout LA interview. Rilke’s metaphysical questions such as does the physical action of good or harm remain? If you hurt a bird do you destroy the flight or does this flight continue to exist elsewhere in some realm of continuum just beyond our reach?, has served as “a kind of virtual lamp post for the road” in her poetry journey. She emerged in her poetic journey late, first through local workshops, then through weeklong retreats around the world in places such as San Miguel de Allende and Languedoc Roussillon France. And since 2005, Jones has steadily dedicated herself to the craft.
That’s why recently Jones announced that she won first prize to the Alpine Fellowship. She was chosen from over 1,000 applicants. She said in an Instagram post, “They’re sending me to…Sweden’s oldest in,” on the lake at Fjällnäs. It’s a fellowship that is all expenses paid that includes artists from other disciplines such as theater, visual arts, academics as well as other writers and the symposium runs for three days (August 10-13, 2023), “packed with events and discussion.”
Jones went on to say “the winning piece is extremely meaningful to me and is part of my current project exploring the memoir of Rilke’s housekeeper through poetry.”
Poet Matt Sedillo is exhausting. By the time someone hears of a reading or one event he’s put together, he’s already done eight more. Some days he’s featured at multiple readings, both virtual and in-person. Sometimes he’s in Italy, Mexico, The Bay or somewhere near his home in SoCal reading his political poetry. Or this year, he’s released a book of poetry combining poems from his books Mowing Leaves of Grass (FlowerSong Press, 2019) and City on the Second Floor (FlowerSong Press, 2022) in Italian titled Stolen Lives, Stolen Land, and returns to Italy to promote it.
The book is a “best of” collection as Sedillo calls it. Translator Anna Lombardo in the book’s introduction, translated into English by Google Translate, describes the collection as: “It is well known how history is rewritten by the victors who often ignore or keep out the ‘other’ stories. In many of these stories…the author rereads and weaves together precisely those ‘other’ stories. It does so with precise date and references.”
And in Italy he didn’t slow down, posting to his Instagram a flyer in Italian advertising American poet and publisher of Vagabond Mark Lipman, Italian poet Edoardo Omli and himself reading in three cities in three days. Traveling from one Italian city to another.
Los Angeles Zine Fest returns on the 28th at the Expo Arts Center in Long Beach. After uncertainty surrounding their survival due to the pandemic, which helped put their financial viability in flux, they’ve returned with a slimmed down version of the Fest dedicated to promoting DIY literary and social justice print publishing. These publications are produced on a low budget, staple-bound and copied, full color and hand-stitched, a collection of poems or a manifesto. This year’s Zine Fest is smaller and is taking place in Long Beach, they said in an Instagram post, because “the Expo was the only space we could find in our budget.”
Unlike most organizations they’re completely upfront about their financial situation, saying in the same post, “we are a volunteer-run, self-funded event and not having an in-person fest since 2019 severely decreased our spending budget. So much so that we could not commit the $10k it would take to secure,” a more centrally located venue.
LA Zine Fest is back, promoting the love and importance of this medium of DIY artists, who can at times be over-romanticized as “scrappy artists,” says an L.A. Weekly article, who, “hold a special, insider-outsider place in the book world,” they are described as inhabiting in the L.A. Times.
Truth is these zines cover topics such as social justice, fiction and poetry, that are not limited by financial constraints and the predominantly white publishing industries. Zine makers, especially those of color and LGBTQIA, are able to tell stories often rejected by mainstream publishing. They are able to tell their stories in a medium that has “deep roots…in communities of color and movements for civil rights,” according to zinesters of color in a USA Today article.
As L.A. Zine Fest draws near, they’re using their Instagram to highlight the “amazing folks exhibiting their zines this year.” Below is a sampling of just a few:
A queer and AAPI-owned risograph studio and independent press operating out the San Gabriel Valley, run by artist and designer @amanpanman, whose work often uses a lot of graphic design, playful illustrations, meta humor, interesting materials and frequent invitations to interact with the physical object itself.
“Discovering zines and zine culture has completely changed my life, and coming to understand the liberatory nature of zine-making has allowed me to expand my art and practice in ways I never thought about before. It’s been truly eye-opening!”
Chynna Monforte is a first generation Mexican-Guatemalan artist and designer born in Alaska, and raised in occupied Tongva Land Los Angeles. “Ni de aquí, ni de allá, ni de allá.” Chynna’s work focuses on identity in land, familial ties, and culture with interdisciplinary practice in mediums such as photo, design, collage, and silkscreen.
“I create zines because self publishing is the most accessible way to get my work and views out into the world.”
I’m a comics/zine creator in Los Angeles, proud daughter of Korean immigrants and mother of two forces of nature. Inspired to fix the world for my daughters, I switched from producing mainstream animation to telling/illustrating personal stories on identity, racism, feminism, motherhood, and the occasional picture book for adults.
Making zines is my socially acceptable and consensual equivalent of streaking.
Pillowtalk Press Society Paper; is a resource tool for mental health. A poster guide on navigating and nourishing a healthy life. Utilizing tools and advice to sort, cope and expand our realm, emotions and build the mind.
There’s no clear solve to mental health struggles. Insecurities, doubts, questions etc. will never be eradicated because those are the very trails that make us living beings. The personal journey isn’t always straight with therapy. Zine culture gives community and resources the library of support.
Los Angeles Literature 
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Great to see writers being recognized for their hard work and dedication! Congratulations to Lois P. Jones on winning first prize to the Alpine Fellowship and to Matt Sedillo on releasing his new book of poetry in Italian. And, of course, excited for the return of LA Zine Fest!
The Survivalist Prepper
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