Glasgow Zine Library, 32-34 Albert Road, Glasgow (2026)

04/11/2025

🍄 November at GZL

We're nearing the end of the year but we've still got a jammed packed selection of events this month! You can book online at glasgowzinelibrary.com

Trans // Coded: An introduction to coding for trans people
6th/13th/24th/4th | 6:30-8:30pm | In Person | Pay-What-You-Can

Dissent Rover / composing a poetics of dissent
Fri 7th | 6:30-8:30pm | In Person | Pay-What-You-Can

Book Launch: an Intersectional Guide for Male Survivors of S*xual Abuse and their Allies
Fri 14th | 6:30-8:30pm | In Person | Free, booking required

Poetry Open Mic
Weds 12th | 7-8:30pm | In Person | Free, booking required

Un/Nature: a q***r ecologies reading group
Sun 16th | 11am-1pm | In Person | Free, booking required

Trying Together: A Peer Group for Works in Progress
Mon 17th | 6:30-8:30pm | In Person | Free, booking required

To Filth: A transfeminist reading group
Tues 18th | 6-8pm | In Person | Free, booking required

Drop-In Zine Making
Weds 19th | 3:30-8pm | In Person | Free, drop in

Rot Your Brain: A Television Reading Group
Thurs 20th | 7-8:30pm | In Person | Free, booking required

Zine Scavenging
Sat 22nd | 2-4pm | In Person | Pay-What-You-Can

Q***r Read-in Club
Mon 24th | 7-9pm | In Person | Free, booking required

S*x Positive Reading Group
Tues 25th | 7-8:30pm | In Person | Free, booking required

The Sketchbook Sessions
Thurs 27th | 6-8pm | In Person | Free, booking required

[ID: Slide 1: a list of events happening at Glasgow Zine Library in November. The background is a navy blue and the events are listed as in the caption in white font. Along the top of the image in ochre coloured font reads "November at GZL" with an illustration of mushrooms along grass inside a rounded rectangle. The same illustrations of mushrooms is along the bottom. Slide 2: same as slide 1 with added text "Book online at glasgowzinelibrary.com]

08/10/2025

Histories Under Construction: using comics to reassemble history
Wednesday 29th October, 6-8pm | Online
Pay-What-You-Can, tickets available on our website glasgowzinelibrary.com

Ever thought about how comics can capture history, memory, and the passage of time? In this hands-on workshop with Esther McManus, we’ll experiment with the unique ways comics combine text, image, and space to tell stories — especially historical ones. We’ll play with sequencing, pacing, and layout, and explore how comics can hold ambiguity, multiplicity, and shifting perspectives all at once.

This is a practical, creative session: you’ll be drawing (using whatever tools you’re most comfortable with, analogue or digital) and sharing rough work-in-progress in small groups. The focus isn’t on polished artwork, but on trying things out, remixing ideas, and seeing how different approaches can shape the stories you want to tell.

Here’s what the session will look like:

- A short intro to how comics can bring history to life
- Quick warm-up drawing and storytelling activity
- A sketchy, one-page comic sequence to start experimenting
- Breakout groups for feedback, reflection, and fresh ideas
- A second round of drawing where you’ll refine or expand your story — maybe even into a double-page spread
- Sharing back to the larger group what you discovered through the process

By the end, you’ll leave with new methods for combining text and image, a deeper sense of how comics can explore historical narrative, and some practical ways to iterate and refine your work. Most importantly, you’ll have had a chance to create, share, and learn alongside others in a relaxed, collaborative setting.

07/10/2025

Last week some of the GZL team and our volunteers visited Lavender Menace Q***r Books Archive in Edinburgh!

We learnt about the history of Lavender Menace before we browsed through their archive of LGBTQ+ books, mostly published between 1970 and 2000 and earlier, many of which were sold in Scotland’s first le***an and gay bookshops – Lavender Menace and later West & Wilde. We also got to hang out with Vita the dog.

Huge thanks to to team from Lavender Menace for hosting us and letting us look through the amazing archive. If you're in Edinburgh go and visit them during their opening hours or you can browse their digital catalogue on their website.

[ID: Slide 1 - two people sit and one stands at a table covered in coffee cups, water bottles and donuts. The person in the middle is flipping through a book. In the background there are shelves of books with bears and comics on display at the top. Slide 2 - 3 of the GZL team looking through documents from an archive box. There are full shelves of books behind them.
Slide 3 - A homemade sign in the Lavender Menace archive that reads 'Cruise our Archive'. On the left is the Lavender Menace logo of an eye and underneath it is a newspaper clipping that reads "police ordered to drop HIV markings" On the right is another cut out of the old Lavender Menace bookshop logo and a headline that reads "S*xual Health at the Royal"
Slide 4 - One of the GZL volunteers sits at the table from Slide 1, looking through a book. In the background another volunteer is reaching up to look through the books on the shelves.
Slide 5 - A close up of a spread from a magazine about Le***an Scotland and the International Gay Association
Slide 6 - A photo of Nic from GZL smiling at the camera and holding Vita, a spaniel with one eye, on her lap.]

06/10/2025

03/10/2025

🌀 Mak Mair! Scots Language Zine Commission: DEADLINE EXTENDED 🌀

Glasgow Zine Library is commissioning a new zine as part of recent funding received from the Scottish Book Trust's Scots Language Publication Grant. Apply now: www.glasgowzinelibrary.com/scots-language-zine

We've commissioned Scots language zines in the past which have fortified an area of our collection we're keen to continue building on. We are looking to support the production of one new Scots language zine.

The zine must be in Scots, but you can take it in any direction that is meaningful to you. We’re interested in zines engaging with themes about marginalised histories and vulnerable languages, stories, and heritage, but all proposals are welcome. We encourage submissions from people outside of Glasgow and Edinburgh.

If selected, you will get:

- £350 for you to use to cover any research and development costs, including your time`
- £150 towards printing costs
- Induction into the Glasgow Zine Library catalogue and facilities
- Ongoing access to Glasgow Zine Library throughout the research and making period, and support from the team
- Free tickets to events programmed by Glasgow Zine Library
- Zine launch event

DEADLINE: FRIDAY 10TH OCTOBER 2025, 5PM

You can provide a written, video or audio submission. You can also choose to submit a proposal in an alternative format that suits you better, such as an annotated moodboard or sketchbook and notes. Please just ensure that your submission is legible and it is clear how it is intended to be engaged with. You can also request a conversation.

25/09/2025

This beautiful zine created by Taqwa Ahmed Al-Wawi, a 19 year old Palestinian writer and poet from Gaza, is now part of the collection. The zine features Taqwa's personal essays and poetry in which she writes about her experiences of the ongoing occupation, the people and places she has lost but also love and resilience in the face of genocide.

In Taqwa's words "every word in this zine carries our hearts, our grief, and our defiance. We are human, just like you, with dreams that stretch beyond borders. Remember us, feel with us, and know that even in the face of genocide, we endure - and our voices will not be silenced."

If you'd like a digital copy you can find more info and donate on Taqwa's website. You can also pop in to the Library to read it along with the rest of our zines on Palestine.

19/09/2025

Xicanxfuturism: Old California and The Mask of the Ciberbandido
Saturday 27th September, 6:30-8pm at GZL
Free, book your place at glasgowzinelibrary.com

Visiting mixed-race Chicano writers Scott Russell Duncan and Colton “Cuca” Campbell bring speculative storytelling and political imagination to Glasgow.

Duncan’s novel Old California Strikes Back reclaims myth and history through surreal resistance, refusing colonial narratives of Mexican Californio identity. Campbell’s Ciberbandido Mask blurs technology, rebellion, and performance, exploring the contradictions of the digital border. They will also share work from Xicanxfuturism: Gritos for Tomorrow, an anthology imagining liberated futures against the weight of colonization.

Participants can expect a mix of readings, conversation, and Q&A, with space for audience questions and connection. Themes include memory, mixed‑race identity, Indigenous resistance, speculative futures, and Indie publishing. Attendees will leave with new perspectives on how art can challenge official histories and open space for collective imagination. Books and the anthology will be available on the night.

16/09/2025

🤘This month's Rot Your Brain will be all about Freaks and Geeks! Come along to the Library this Thursday to chat about this one season wonder.

Run by film studies scholar Hannah Granberry, Rot Your Brain is a group to discuss theories and themes in contemporary and past television series. This is an event for people who love television, history, and pop culture, who want to gain a greater understanding of television culture.

Tickets are free and you can book on our website: glasgowzinelibrary.com

15/09/2025

Join us this Wednesday for Drop In Zine Making! 🌟 No ticket required, no experience necessary. All materials and basic instruction provided, with tea and coffee also available.

We also run Drop In Zine Making every Saturday during our opening hours.

[ID: A collage featuring people sitting around a table making zines. There are mountains, the moon and a blue sky in the background. Gems and yellow stars are laid on top. Torn tape has "Drop in Zine Making, Weds 17th 3:30-8" written on it in green font]

15/09/2025

This post is dedicated to our dynamic duo programming team Martha and Alex, who are leaving GZL after five years of creating and fostering such a beautiful programme of events at the Library and Zine Fest 💔

Over the past five years Martha and Alex have worked tirelessly and with great care to produce a programme that is engaging, stimulating and thoughtful. From five Glasgow Zine Fests to events at The Bowling Green, Glasgow Press and more, they have worked with a range of incredible facilitators and partners to create some truly special work with our community.

On top of all of that they have worked closely with some amazing young people as part of our Young Producers and Associate Producers programmes. We're so lucky to have connections with these creative and talented people through the work that Alex and Martha have done.

We will miss them both very much and are so grateful for all of the amazing work they've done! Please join us in wishing Martha and Alex all good things for their future endeavours ⭐💓

12/09/2025

🌀 Mak Mair! Scots Language Zine Commission 🌀

Glasgow Zine Library is commissioning a new zine as part of recent funding received from the Scottish Book Trust's Scots Language Publication Grant. Apply now at glasgowzinelibrary.com/scots-language-zine

We've commissioned Scots language zines in the past which have fortified an area of our collection we're keen to continue building on. We are looking to support the production of one new Scots language zine.

The zine must be in Scots, but you can take it in any direction that is meaningful to you. We’re interested in zines engaging with themes about marginalised histories and vulnerable languages, stories, and heritage, but all proposals are welcome. We encourage submissions from people outside of Glasgow and Edinburgh.

If selected, you will get:

- £350 for you to use to cover any research and development costs, including your time`
- £150 towards printing costs
- Induction into the Glasgow Zine Library catalogue and facilities
- Ongoing access to Glasgow Zine Library throughout the research and making period, and support from the team
- Free tickets to events programmed by Glasgow Zine Library
- Zine launch event

DEADLINE: FRIDAY 3RD OCTOBER 2025, 5PM

You can provide a written, video or audio submission. You can also choose to submit a proposal in an alternative format that suits you better, such as an annotated moodboard or sketchbook and notes. Please just ensure that your submission is legible and it is clear how it is intended to be engaged with. You can also request a conversation.

11/09/2025

🪐 We're open Friday 12-6pm and slightly later on Saturday (1-6pm) this weekend. Plus! pop by on Sunday for a Yard Sale for Gaza organised by Keng Keng and friends. Hope to see u there!

Glasgow Zine Library

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