While the Chinatown International District (CID) is known for its vibrant arts and culture, Asian American Zine Fest uplifts the intersection between creativity and politics. The first Asian American Zine Fest, held on July 13 this year, welcomed hundreds of attendees to the International District/Chinatown Community Center, buying and trading zines with 30+ vendors and short speeches from grassroots organizations. Rooted in the neighborhood’s legacy of community empowerment and resistance, we knew our festival had to be held in the CID.
Zines (short-form and self-produced mini publications) are meant to be shared—an exchange of information. In the U.S., the first zines contained Black political thought coming out of the Harlem Renaissance. Zines, as independent publishing, challenge capitalism and white supremacy through the democratization of knowledge. When Asian Americans were ignored and rejected by mainstream media in the 20th century, we became our own press and defined our identity. We built momentum through self-publishing, sharing news, resources, and political thought. Zines and indie publishing were integral to the Asian American Movement and continue to be relevant in today’s organizing and community-building.
In August of 2024, co-organizer Meilani posted on her Instagram story, “Is anyone interested in getting a team together to throw an AANHPI zine fest?” A few months later, the team (Abi, Ahmoy, Meilani, Monyee, and Way) hosted “Super Secret Asian American Zine Fest” as a small get-together to invite community into the process of developing a larger festival. With nearly 25,000 views on Instagram, we realized our little project wasn’t going to be “super secret” afterall. Posted on our personal accounts, we didn’t specify we are Seattle-based, and watched comments flood in from across the country. This enthusiasm culminated in a successful first event in which folks shared their hopes for a fest and traded zines.
Committed to Asian American as a politic, the organizing team wrote a manifesto to share our vision, not only to define our mission as a group but to ensure that participants had a clear understanding of who we are and what we’re doing. As individual artists, team members are experienced with vending at various events in the local art market scene. We made the decision very early on that we were not going to charge artists a vending fee and we were going to pay them to produce work to give out for free. We hosted neighborhood tours for our vendors to learn the history and current struggles of the CID (led by neighborhood organizer Rachtha). Beyond a market for artists to sell their work, we set out to create a community.
As a new event situated between more established festivals (Seattle Art Book Fair and Seattle Zine Fest), we worried no one would show up to ours. Boy, were we wrong. Thanks to our amazing volunteers, attendees were welcomed and handed a high quality face mask before joining the party. Halfway through the event, we invited Bayan Washington, CID Coalition, CID Meal Distro, Eggrolls Mutual Aid, Massage Parlor Organizing Project, Sông2Sea, and Subvert UD to introduce themselves. From tangible ways to give back to the community to political education on American imperialism, our speakers grounded the event in Asian America’s ethos.
But the zines themselves? Brilliant and plentiful. Over 30 Asian American vendors shared their art with the public. One artist, Ashley Topacio, shared, “I nearly sold out all my stock for the first time ever… As an AsAm leftist, I feel like my art and writing are not the favorite at most fests, but this was my exact market of folks and every artist there was just amazing.”
Zine topics included everything from deafness (Jessie Zhang) to grieving a loved one (Cara Viet Chi Nguyen, RIP Grandpa Kerry) to how to make good chai (Sunbeam Zines). Vendors provided a variety of zines while attendees engaged thoughtfully and enthusiastically.
Another vendor, Paulo of Champagne Arcade, reflected on his experience at the fest, “Meeting the attendees and just experiencing the kindness of people genuinely interested in my work was very special. I think my first sale was very emotional because I always questioned myself if people would get it or understand me. I feel like the people who connected with my zine took the time to hear me out and didn’t just buy it because it looked cool. They had really good questions that nobody’s asked me before, and that was really special to me.”
In an email sent out to vendors in preparation for the fest, Meilani tried to brace participants for the potential of a lackluster turnout, writing: “We have no idea what attendance will be like. But hey, even if absolutely no one shows up, we get to hang out with each other!” That doubt proved unnecessary, but the underlying message remained: regardless of attendance, this event would be successful if it built community within the folks who made it possible. Stephanie of Wish You Whales, a first time tabler, shared, “I think the best part of the event was meeting so many other cool, creative Asian American artists and I’m excited to follow them and hopefully befriend them 🙂 I felt like I really belonged in that space, which doesn’t happen very frequently! The room was just full of love and care and support. I really felt the collective power of all of us together in one room having our work and art celebrated in a space that never existed before.”
Asian American Zine Fest Seattle would like to thank the following for making this a dream come true: our volunteers, our vendors, our speakers, Seattle Public Library Foundation, and CID Coalition. We are planning year-round programming including zine-making workshops (we hosted one for first-time zine makers in September at Friends of Little Saigon!). Asian American Zine Fest remains dedicated to cultivating a creative political space for Asian America.
