Cut & Paste: Zines and Self-Publishing as an Artform

Bianca Martin (she/her) is a zinemaker, musician, and independent academic currently based in Toowoomba, Australia. She is the inaugural recipient of the 2022 Rainbow Research Fellowship through the State Library of Queensland. She completed her Master of Arts specialising in English literature through the University of Southern Queensland in 2019 and is the maker of Rut Zine, a free weekly perzine which has been in circulation since 2016.

Jeremy Staples’ strives towards creating spaces for creative community engagement that provide platforms for participants to be heard via grassroots projects. Known for his 'Do It Yourself projects', DIY isn’t a philosophy that operates on the weekends for Staples. From building an off-grid container home, cycling to Sydney from Brisbane and presenting a talk at the Vivid Ideas festival. Staples lives and breathes DIY or, as he prefers, DIT – Do It Together. 

Rae White is a non-binary transgender writer, educator and zine maker. Their poetry collection Milk Teeth (UQP 2018) won the 2017 Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize, was shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and commended in the 2018 Anne Elder Award. Rae’s second poetry collection Exactly As I Am was published in 2022 by UQP. Rae has two poems published in Nothing to Hide – Voices of Trans and Gender-Diverse Australia (Allen & Unwin, 2022). Rae’s Bitsy poem-game ‘stand up’ won the Woollahra Digital Literary Award for Digital Innovation. Rae is the editor of #EnbyLife, a journal for non-binary and gender diverse creatives. They are the Events and Marketing Manager at Queensland Poetry.

Benjo Kazue is interdisciplinary artist from the dregs of gonzo rock n' roll. He fuses creative non fiction, new journalism, autobiographical fiction and armchair philosophy with cut and paste collage into tactile works of contemporary beatnik reportage with a potent combination of sensorial force, vivid language, existential meandering, nihilistic humour and gonzo poetry. Benjo's creative non fiction, journalism, music criticism and commentary have been published in street press, national media, literary journals and websites over the world including Bengaluru Review, Joao Roque Literary Journal, Collapse Board, NME and Monster Children, leading renowned rock critic Everett True to claim he could be Lester Bangs incarnate. Benjo is currently the editor and genius at the helm of DIY literary journal and indie publishing house 'Cosmic Phallusy', which was shortlisted for Best Overall Zine and Best Lit Zine at the 2022 Broken Pencil International Zine awards.