Natalie Bradbury's Shrieking Violet Zine - Lecture

A return to the present day Zines:

We had a super awesome lecture from Zine editor/creator Natalie Bradbury (A university of Manchester graduate who now resides in the city).

Her Zine is about the city of Manchester itself, and most of the events or places that people may miss, or that don't normally appear in tourist guides etc

Immediatly, I was intrigued, as this is a prime example as to how Zines themselves have evolved from being the rebellious punk fanzines and that stereotype, and moving on towards a more "hipster" (in a good way) and "publically accepted" range of publications.

Bradbury told us a great deal about how her Zine was created, and we discussed a range of topics:

• 20 full issues have been published to date, since the 2009 start.
• Considered to be an "Alternative guide" to Manchester, and it's hidden interesting locations
• Contains a range of information from guides, art and short stories
• A strong use of mixed media and custom covers
• Bradbury discussed her English Literature graduation, and how she decided to remain in Manchester
• Started with Blogging, but found it a "limited space" to work in
• Takes heavy punk inspiration into consideration in the designs and distrubution stages
• A strong "Belle Vue" inspiration (est 2008)
• A strong modernist outlook, with regular contributors of different backgrounds and influence
• Art/Public interests/Music all very dominant in the zine (like the older zines)
• One topic was the once purposed Manchester Underground, a spooky yet interesting idea
• Sometimes features chapters of upcoming novels, and other topics, like food for example.
• Interveiwed a range of publishers for advice
• The Manchester Modernist Society was another handy link
• Hand folder Zine
• InDesign is used to lay the zine out
• Lino cuts are another illustration format used regularly
• The zine is distrubuted in places around the city, such as bars, cafes, galleriens, and also online for easy accessibility
• Marc Printing helps distribute
• Issuu - Click Here To Visit  Helps the process of distrubution online
• Northern Indymedia
• Created a birthday special for the Zine, giving it a new sense of being and taking it into a much more personal veiw by the contributors
• The Salford Zine Library (as seen in an early post) also features copies of the publication, and is also an influence
• The Victoria Bath Fanzine collection and the Brighton Zine fest are another great way to see what today's zines are all about, and to distribute

The way this particular zine was layed out, and also represented for what it produces for it's theme, truly show how we can "rebel" in other formats, and reach out to a whole new zine culture, that has evolved since the 70s. The range of the illustration, combined with the themes, really inspire me to think into zines as a serious publishing medium. The more I was told, the more I was intrigued.


This further confirms my interest in tributing current and old zine "rebelious nature" style, and also the random, yet inspiring art of the modernist zine, that can somehow come together to create a response visually.