CZF 2026 workshops

During Chicago Zine Fest 2026, we'll have three exciting sessions! Join us at the Harold Washington Library Center on Saturday October 10th.

• 11:30 am–12:30 pm: Indigenous Zinester Panel
  • For Native and Indigenous artists and innovators who found it difficult breaking into mainstream publishing, zines have been a crucial outlet. Craig Kee Strete, who identified as Cherokee, self-published the Red Planet Earth, arguably the first magaZine, in 1974 under the title "A Magazine of American Indian Science Fiction." It seems to be the first science fiction published by Indigenous authors. Come celebrate self-publishing and Indigenous voices at the Indigenous Zinesters panel, where Native and Indigenous writers, artists, and makers will share their zine-related work. Explore DIY print culture that challenges dominant narratives for real, lived experiences while uplifting narratives, such as the relationship to storytelling, land defense, or radical archival histories.
  • Our panelists:
    • Analú María López (Huachichil/Xi'úi) from Zhegagoynak (Chicago) is a writer and community builder and librarian at the Newberry Library, where she curates the Indigenous collection.
    • River Kerstetter (Oneida) from Zhegagoynak (Chicago) is a designer, writer, and curator.
    • Andi Murphy from Albuquerque, New Mexico is a Diné journalist and podcaster who creates Toasted Sister zines, focused on Indigenous food stories.
    • Lindsey Danae Perez from Portland, Oregon, is a two-spirit Tongva illustrative artist who encourages self-decolonization through visual storytelling, giving voice to gender-nonconforming experiences, cultural reclamation, and spiritual awakening in their collection of handmade, self published comic zines.
• 1–2 pm: Exquisite Corpse: Collaborative Character Creation
  • This workshop encourages attendees to collaborate with one another to randomly create a character! Each group will work in teams to design a head, body, and torso without seeing what everyone else draws. After everyone’s character is complete, you’ll reveal what wacky creations you’ve come up with together!
  • Hosted by Columbia College Chicago’s Illustration Student Group
• 2:30–3:30 pm: Street Signs & Sorcery: Fantasy Character Design Workshop
• • Chicago has some VERY good street names, so obviously we should turn them into fantasy characters. Participants will get a real Chicago street-sign intersection as a name plus a randomly assigned species and class, then use those clues to create an original adventurer. We’ll start with a quick character design lesson, then spend the rest of the workshop drawing, designing, and making weird little guys. No D&D or TTRPG experience required!
    
  • Hosted by CZF organizer Emily Steffen