A newsstand pops up in Brooklyn

A pop-up newsstand that sells indy magazines,zines, books, greeting cards has taken over the Metropolitan Avenue subway station in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It opened up June 15 and will close down July 20. It's located at a busy intersection of the G and L trains and is a partnership between the zine fair operators 8-Ball and ALLDAYEVERYDAY, a creative company. The store features selections of independent printed matter, some of them little zines sold out of a repurposed vending machine. [See earlier posts about such vending here and here.]

Calgary zines dispensed by refurbished vending machines

Zine Machine uses repurposed vending machines installed around Calgary by a small press called Small Ghosts and dispensing independent 'zines. For instance, one is on a...shelf...at Shelf Life Books (see above) where four quarters will get you a zine or a chapbook.(That machine is #2; #1 is in the shop, so to speak, getting new stickers while Small Ghosts looks for a new place to install it.)

It's not the first such venture we've heard of, but likely the very first in Calgary. (The Toronto Poetry Vendors dispense poetry chapbooks from their refurbished gum machines.)
[Thanks to AMPA for letting us know about this quirky and interesting venture.] 

Canzine 2011 features record number of zinesters and, maybe, 100 monkeys

Canzine, the annual fair for homemade near-mags organized by Broken Pencil magazine, is on Sunday at the 918 Bathurst Centre in Toronto (a new location) from 1 - 7 p.m. Entry is $5, which includes a copy of the magazine.

According to a story in Torontoist, the fair has an all-time high of 193 vendors displaying and selling everything from comics and chapbooks to craft items. Not only does it feature publications such as Static Zine -- launching its second issue -- but it has a series of interactive events. These include a Punch Book Pitch, in which hopefuls have two minutes to pitch their book idea to a panel of industry insiders and a Piracy Zine challenge, in which three zinesters compete to create a winning zine based on a famous movie. There is also a mini food fair.

"Participants can glean further inspiration from Canzine’s two art rooms," the article says. "The first, Trash Palace, will feature old classroom videos (on such essentials as good manners), and the second will be a “typewriter orchestra room”—an installation that we, at least, hope will feature 100 monkeys attempting to reproduce Shakespeare’s genius."

Toronto zine library now has a takeout option

An unsual collection of zines in Toronto is now set up as a regular circulating library. According to a story on Torontoist, The Toronto Zine Library tucked away in the rehearsal hall of The Tranzac, has more than 1,000 zines (and counting, donations are encouraged).

These range from from semi-popular stuff like Montreal's Fish Piss to more obscure personal zines about, like, octopuses. Or whatever. They also do rad stuff like hold artist talks and workshops that blind you with their awesomeness.

Until recently the collection was only available for in-house perusal during Tranzac business hours but now it has been converted into a proper lending library. A one-time fee of $5 gets you full borrowing privileges.

Photo of the TZL window installation at She Said Boom! last month courtesy of the Toronto Zine Library.