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The Arts Beat is a weekly deep-dive into Memphis arts, music, dance, theater, fashion, film and events. Keep scrolling for a roundup of the best arts and culture stories from the week. Have a story idea? Send it to eperry@dailymemphian.com.
Memphis Zine Fest features the works of authors, artists and poets. Including Erica Qualy’s.
Qualy, the festival founder, describes zines as “self-published mini-magazines that are handmade and composed of original content.”
The 2025 edition is set from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 16, at HavenHaus, 84 E. G.E. Patterson Ave. The event is free to attend and open to all ages.
 Erica Qualy (Courtesy Erica Qualy)
Qualy is a Malaysian American artist based in Memphis. She is a writer, photographer, painter, and procures and sells vintage items via her brand Tako’s Treasures Vintage. She also sells clothing items and accessories with her designs.
She moved from Minneapolis about 16 years ago and said she was surprised Memphis lacked a zine festival.
Qualy organized the first Memphis Zine Fest 10 years ago. She’s been teaching zine-making workshops for 10 years, but she’s been creating them for 20 years.
The artist traces her interest in zines to high school, when she found a book at the library called “Zine Scene: Do It Yourself Guide to Zines” by Francesca Lia Block and Hillary Carlip.
She made her first zine using community interviews, “word-finds,” niche research articles and other items.
“Finding out about zines was so liberating,” Qualy said. “Especially as a teenager. ‘You mean I can write whatever I want?’ It was so empowering. And accessible. Nearly everyone has all the basic tools you need to make a zine at home — some computer paper, scissors, pencil, stapler.”
 Memphis Zine Fest founder Erica Qualy describes zines as “self-published mini-magazines that are handmade and composed of original content.” (Courtesy Memphis Zine Fest)
Qualy said zines are one of the best ways to get thoughts, ideas and art into the community “on your own terms.”
The 2025 Memphis Zine Fest includes Memphis vendors, as well as regional ones like John Rash of the Southern Punk Archive, Cassandra Hawkins of Vivid Doc (both from Oxford, Mississippi), and Dani McFarland of PTSFeminist (of Mulberry, Arkansas).
Though the event is free, donations will be accepted for the venue’s operations. There will be free street parking Downtown since the event is on a Sunday.
Qualy says most vendors accept digital payments, but attendees should bring cash if they have it.
Attendees can also bring records they’d like to hear on the event’s record player.
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