2024 Midwest Queer and Trans Zine Fest

Zinesters and print enthusiasts met at Open Book to celebrate queer history and share zines

Joshua Kloss

Open Book in downtown Minneapolis hosted the Midwest’s Queer and Trans Zine Fest on October 19 and 20. In collaboration with Late Night Copies Press and Astringent Press, the Tretter Collection at the U put on a vibrant event that showcased artists and creatives from all over the heartland.

As the program describes, a zine fest is an opportunity to network with and support zine-makers. There were a total of 72 vendors, along with archives of queer history borrowed from the Tretter Collection, which is the largest collection of its type in the entire Midwest and is housed within the U’s LGBT maybe? I could also just be unfamiliar with GLBTGLBT studies department. As someone who attended the fest on its first day, I can attest to just how vast and engaging the event was. 

The first section contained displays of queer magazines, artwork, and literature from across decades. A copy of Gay Milwaukee from May of 1981 caught my eye, and beside it sat a copy of the October 1977 issue of Gold Flower—a Twin Cities publication for women. Among these two magazines was a crowd of other archival artifacts that showcased the queer community in the U.S. throughout history. 

The event was hosted in two large rooms housing all the vendors. Creatives from all over the Midwest sold their zines, stickers, and artwork for relatively low prices, mostly under ten dollars. Though I myself tried resisting capitalist participation, I above all cherished the community that the event brought together. Masking was asked of all attendees and vendors, so everyone seemed to feel safe and were thus conversational and friendly among one another. I myself met a variety of awesome, fascinating artists. The fest brought together like-minded individuals who all value the print medium, the storytelling tradition, and the power of each to communicate and preserve queer history across generations and into the future.

The program described the vendors’ zines as “history in the making.” I couldn’t agree more.