WIZD Library Blog:Phx Zinesters

By Marlaina Thorslev, Wasted Ink Zine Librarian 

To celebrate PHX Zine Fest at the end of the month, the WIZD library is highlighting local zinesters from across Arizona throughout September! Arizona is full of thoughtful, vibrant, and community-oriented zinesters whose art and ideas are clamoring for new eyeballs. Take a peek at a few of our monthly zine highlights below.

• Flushed Flamin’ Hot Red, a flamin’ hot cheetos poetry collection, Offwhitesheep, date unknown
  
  • A love letter to Hot Cheetos and all manner of packaged chips! This zine incorporates vibrant marbled paper, gold-foiled vellum, and recycled Hot Cheetos bags upon which lovingly-written text explores how the Hot Cheeto connects us, excites us, and brings us joy.
    

• Lessons I’ve Learned From Sewing, Staceart, 2024
  
  • Stace guides the reader in releasing the desire to correct every mistake, breaking complex projects into smaller steps, and finding joy in imperfection. Each lesson includes images from the author’s own journey in full color, highlighting their whimsical textile creations. The zine closes out with resources and references for readers to utilize on their own sewing journeys. 
    

• Splotch Art Interactive Zine, PandaKong, 2025
  
  • Inspired by children’s drawing activities in which kids are asked to complete a work of art based on a line or splotch of paint, PandaKong has created an interactive zine filled with paint splotches to serve as the beginning of a new artwork by you! Each page has a unique shape and color for you to play with, squint at, and prompt you in creating a new piece of collaborative art. ​
    

• Chronic, Lesly P. Figueroa, 2024
  
  • This zine explores the author’s experiences with PCOS through poetry, essay, original art, and music. Lesly communicates the pain, confusion, fear, and uncertainty brought on by this chronic condition, expressing symptoms, sensations, and ideas through manifold modalities. 
    

• Tasty Zines, Zee, 2026
  
  • This mini-zine has a list of ideas for the reader to make a zine of their own. If you’re feeling stuck in a creative rut and need some inspiration, this zine provides some fun, low-pressure prompts alongside colorful and lighthearted textures and imagery.
    

We would love to see you at PHX Zine Fest on September 26-27! Find many zinesters tabling their art and zines. If you’re unable to make it to zine fest, know that you can always visit our zine library during open hours to immerse yourself in community, even when you don’t have the capacity for crowds. Most of the folks who table our fest donate zines to our library, so be on the lookout for new donations in October and beyond. When you visit the WIZD library, you are connecting with other zinesters across time and space. How beautiful is that? See you soon!