Skear Zines responds to the writers we work with. It aims to resist homogenisation, and celebrate querenesse. It wants to give space to those voices that might not fit into traditional publishing models, voices that have been sidelined or as yet unheard, voices that have small (yet big) things to say, voices that will sing in unconventional forms.
What we’re interested in
Writing that straddles prose and poetry, fiction and memoir, narrative and non-consecutive sequences, short or longer pieces (anything from 100 – 2400 words), fragments or some other interesting form. We are open to combining image with text, embedding web-based audio into the zines and other things we’ve not yet thought of.
more info and how to order on the Skear Zines website
Zine format
Each zine is folded from a single A3 sheet. No glue, no stitches. Only cuts are used to create a variety of folding and unfolding forms that ask the reader to reappraise how they come to the work, or how the work comes to them.
We’re starting small, working with invited writers. We are closed to submissions. However if you know of someone whose work you think might suit this folded/ unfolded form please get in touch.
Behind the Skear is the belief all books are a collaboration between the imaginations of writer, reader and bookmaker. As such each Skear Zine will be different, depending on the dynamic of that collaboration.
We launched our first three Zines on 27th November 2020
Din, by Louis Bailey
Skin of Pea, by Maya Chowdhry
les iles africaines, by akulah agbami
Who we are
Sarah Hymas has been making artistbooks for several years, in conventional and less conventional forms, always with the desire to renegotiate the dynamic between book and writing, reader and book. It’s time to unfold further. She worked with many writers around the north west of UK as editor for Lancaster Literature Festival for six years.
Maya Chowdhry is a digital art/activist who works at the intersection of form, traversing radio, Installation, theatre and video. She creates immersive and democratic experiences for audiences and explores themes such as climate justice, seed sovereignty and food justice. She has worked as an editor and mentor for young writers and digital artists. Find out more here.
Together the two have collaborated on a number of immersive stories sited in the public sphere, told through geocaching, augmented reality, micro print, performance, audio trails and interactive artistbooks.
A skear is a low rocky outcrop in the sea. The word is a derivation of skerry which is a derivation of the Norwegian skjaer. Skear is used around Morecambe Bay, in northern England.
It is a word that changes shape. That comes from elsewhere, that refers to something that also changes shape: the outcrops are shunted and shifted by currents. The pamphlets / zines are a shape-shifting of the A3 sheet folded into various shapes and sizes that open in different ways; forms that extend the textual content into a physical dimension.
To classify the press as Zines suggests all we’ll ever make are zines, which might not be true. Skear Zines might redefine what a ‘zine’ is or could be. Ultimately it’s about the z-ness, its abbreviation, its not-quite-ness.
