Inside the 3,000-Zine Library in a Texas Living Room

AUSTIN — Last year, among a wave of protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violence, a gathering outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, took a turn when a demonstrator shot a police officer in the neck. Among the defendants handed lengthy prison sentences in connection with the incident is tattoo artist Daniel “Des” Sanchez Estrada. Estrada did not attend the protest, but he was sentenced to 30 years over a charge of concealing evidence. At the center of his case sits a box of zines.

Zines are self-published booklets. Often hand-bound and independently circulated, they are low-cost, easy to distribute, and can feature a range of art media. Zines surged in popularity with the 1980s punk scene, although informally disseminated pamphlets had been a significant tool in the liberation movements of prior decades.

“Zines, by nature, are supposed to be this open space to say whatever you want,” Michelle Millette, founder of Austin’s Sherwood Forest Zine Library, told Hyperallergic. “Zines have become one of the few spaces that allows someone to have their own opinion without having a comment section.”

The Sherwood Forest Zine Library is nestled in Millette’s living room, where a series of bookcases houses around 3,000 zines. She generally opens the library to the public over bimonthly, four-hour periods. Dozens of new and regular zinesters trickle in and out of her home during each open hour, some visiting for the novelty of the space, others taking a seat and catching up with familiar faces.

The culture and community surrounding zines have now been growing steadily across Texas for over 30 years. From picnic meetups in Houston in the 1990s to dedicated sections in public libraries, and through zine festivals, workshops and mixers, communities have sprouted everywhere from the border city of El Paso to the mid-sized, northern city of Denton.

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