Patricia Elzie-Tuttle is a writer, podcaster, librarian, and information fanatic who appreciates potatoes in every single one of their beautiful iterations. Patricia earned a B.A. in Creative Writing and Musical Theatre from the University of Southern California and an MLIS from San Jose State University. Her weekly newsletter, Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice offers self-improvement and mental health advice, essays, and resources that pull from her experience as a queer, Black, & Filipina person existing in the world. She is also doing the same on the Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice Podcast. More of her written work can also be found in Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy edited by Kelly Jensen, and, if you’re feeling spicy, in Best Women’s Erotica of the Year, Volume 4 edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel. Patricia has been a Book Riot contributor since 2016 and is currently co-host of the All the Books! podcast and one of the weekly writers of the Read This Book newsletter. She lives in Oakland, CA on unceded Ohlone land with her wife and a positively alarming amount of books. Find her on her Instagram, Bluesky, and LinkTree.
Today’s book recommendation is inspired by a local indie bookshop I frequent. They’ve been making some updates and additions to the store and they now carry zines. Some folks may be thinking, “Zines are back?” and to that I say, “They never left!” If you aren’t familiar with zines, they’re physical media that is generally a self-published booklet. They could be small and made from a single sheet of paper folded into a booklet or they could be many pages, usually stapled or even stitched together. Today’s book recommendation is a great resource for folks who are new to zines and established fans of zines who are looking into making their own.
Stolen Sharpie Revolution: a DIY Resource for Zines and Zine Culture by Alex Wrekk
First published in 2002 and now in its 6th printing, Stolen Sharpie Revolution has been the quintessential guide for all things zines. It starts with a description of what zines are and readers quickly learn that the “definitions” of a zine can have fuzzy edges because they’re such a creative and unique medium. After a bit about where to find zines, the author gets into the details about how to make zines.
One of the things I love about zines is that they have seemingly endless potential. While the form is flexible within the “booklet” medium, a zine can be on any subject. Just the other day, I picked up a zine on sapphic quotes from Emily Dickinson and another on the history of the original Batmobile. Stolen Sharpie Revolution gives a crash course on zine layout as well as fair use, copyright, and Creative Commons. There is also a ton of practical advice like where to get your zines printed, how to bind them, some layout templates, and a 101 on the US Postal Service. There are tutorials on things like block printing and making your own paper.
One of the things that I really appreciate about this book is the information about the zine community. There are so many opportunities to connect with other folks who make zines, whether it’s in person, virtually, or by mail. No one is going to become a millionaire from making zines and it is truly a thing people create out of passion for zines. I found Stolen Sharpie Revolution to be inspiring and engaging.
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That’s it for now, book-lovers!
Patricia
Find me on Book Riot, the All the Books podcast, Bluesky, and Instagram.
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English (US) · 