WHAT'S A ZINE? Zines are self-published, often handmade publications of various kinds. They can look like and be about anything at all. Mine have been small books of poetry, first-person narratives, and collections of interviews ... and of course there's my eccentric serial zine about language, The La-La Theory. My involvement with this community means a great deal to me. The people involved with DIY publishing tend to be loving, and to support each other in a way that feels really nice. But they're also honest and no-nonsense, passionate, and angry or sad about things that people should be angry or sad about. I feel that this is a way to live that makes some damn sense.

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR ZINES, KATIE. My zines live in the collections of public and academic libraries and infoshops around the world, including Barnard College's zine library, the Multnomah County Library in Portland, Oregon, The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University, and the Browne Popular Culture Library at Bowling Green State University. My found poetry zine, Word Math, was included in "Dark Matter," a 2004 exhibit of underground art at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Some of my zines are sold by distros (zine distributors), including Parcell Press and Microcosm, and independent bookstores, including Philadelphia's landmark anarchist bookstore the Wooden Shoe; Bluestockings, a fabulous radical bookstore in New York City; the Sticky Institute in Melbourne, Australia; Quimby's Bookstore in Chicago; and Under the Table in Los Angeles. I know they're in lots of other places too because people keep emailing me to say, "I got your zine at the such-and-such store," and it's usually a place I've never heard of. I guess their buyers get stuff from distros or something. Well, however the zines get there it's cool with me. Give these places your business, friends!