I really don’t know about you, but as a student, with a job on the side, I barely find the time to incorporate any extra activity into my weekly schedule, let alone have time to catch up with friends or go to shows. But there are other people who actually master that skill perfectly, fitting in all their obligations and more:

Meet Lizzy who studies Theology, is actively involved in her university’s Students’ Union and runs Marching Stars Distro, supplying readers all over the world with their favourite zines.

Dear You, I‘m very happy that you agreed to do this interview. I‘m a big fan of your distro “Marching Stars” as it is always so well-stocked and because you make it easy for people to get their hands on zines. Before we talk about your motivation and your experience in the zine world, let‘s hear from yourself who you are! Introduce yourself, please!

Hi, I’m Lizzy, 20 years old, currently in my 2nd year studying Theology at University of Nottingham. Poster child for the mantra “get involved”. Women’s Officer at my Students’ Union and on more committees than I dare think about.

Now, “Marching Stars“ – how did you come up with the name and why did you decide to open a distro yourself? I imagine you have to be quite an organized person to juggle orders and submissions besides your life as a student.

The name is based on the Tegan and Sara song lyric “but the stars kept marching”. I’m a ridiculously big Tegan and Sara fan. I’ve always liked the lyric and adopted “marchingstars” as my username for most things online so it was the obvious choice for my distro’s name. I started the distro because I was sad about the number of UK distros that stocked international perzines closing or going on long-term hiatus. I decided I could do something about it and so did. You’re right that I have to be organised! It can be a bit tricky at times but I’m determined not to be one of those distros that closes as soon as the owner goes to university. So far, so good!

I know you are very proud of your distro and you have every reason to be but are there moments in which you regret starting it? Did you have any bad encounters?

I can honestly say that since opening over 2.5 years ago I have never once regretted starting it. It’s become quite the foundation stone in my life, as cheesy as that sounds! However bad everything else I’m involved with gets, I still have my distro, it’s still successful, I still built it from nothing and I still love it. I like packaging up orders and all the mundane tasks that take hours. Sure I’ve had bad encounters, but mostly it’s just annoying people who don’t read what I’ve written. Not receiving zines to stock that I’ve paid loads for is stressful and people wanting to send zines for consideration that have absolutely nothing to do with the type of zines I stock is tiring but 95% of the time things run smoothly.

Tell us about zine events – you‘ve tabled at quite a few, right? What do you enjoy most about them?

I absolutely LOVE zine event (and non-zine events where I can introduce people to zines). Initially I think they really helped get the distro ‘out there’ but they’ve also provided me with an excellent excuse to travel. I love talking to people, recommending personal favourite zines, networking, and ultimately just playing shops for real! There’s nothing quite like seeing zines just fly off your table and then reporting back to zinesters and requesting more zines.

You stock different kinds of zines; is there any ‛genre‘ you prefer or that you‘d recommend to someone who‘s never heard of zines? Do you maybe remember the first zine you ever read?

I suppose I naturally gravitate towards, what I describe as, “perzines with a feminist/queer slant”. As a queer feminist I find that those types of zines speak to me most. I think a well written perzine is always a good start for someone who’s never heard of zines before, although I’m very conscious that no zine could ever really be representative of the entire zine world. I’m open to other zine genres but music, poetry and lit have never really appealed to me. The first zine I ever read was called Off My Jammy, although I didn’t know that it was ‘zine’ at the time. I ordered it because it had an interview with Tegan and Sara in. It was a pretty enjoyable read (I suppose you’d have called it a perzine of sorts) although it was several months later that I actually ‘discovered’ zines for real.

Well, maybe people feel inspired now to get out pens and paper, scissors and glue. How do people get you to stock their zine and make it available to a broader audience? How do you decide which zine to stock?

Have a read of the submissions page on the website and if you think your zine fits shoot me an email with some more information. I then usually ask that people send me a copy of their zine to look over. If I like it, I stock it! Up until this point I’ve been pretty open with the zines I stock (as long as they fit in with the general theme of the distro) but I’m trying to be a little more selective now. It’s doing me no favours if I’m not able to be 100% behind every zine I stock.

“I can honestly say that since opening over 2.5 years ago I have never once regretted starting it.”

What would you say: Will zines exist in a decade‘s time? Or do you think they‘ll vanish and be entirely replaced by e-zines?

God I hope so! People keep talking about this threat of ‘e-zines’ but I don’t really think they’re making any ground at the moment. People will continue to discover zines, fall in love with their unique beauty, and continue to make their own. I’m sure many people predicted that zines would have disappeared with the rise of the internet, but it’s yet to happen. I think the zine culture is tougher than it’s given credit for!

We‘ve talked so much about zines now – what else do you enjoy in your free time, do you have any time to yourself left?

Oh goodness, that’s a scary question! Running my distro is my free time! Beyond my degree, being Women’s Officer, various other committees that I’m on and running my distro I’m left with a couple of hours a week to watch a few tv shows!

What I noticed while reading your tweets is that you seem not quite so content with your course. As I‘m a student of theology as well, I‘m always interested to hear people‘s thoughts on the course, their reasons for choosing the subject. Do you want to elaborate on that?

I was brought up a Christian and have always found religion in general fascinating. I had two fantastic Religious Studies teachers at school who really inspired me and I decided to go against what everyone was expecting me to do (maths or science). I chose to study Theology at Nottingham because I really liked the course and the modules offered but unfortunately a huge number of the more interesting modules (in my opinion) have since been cancelled and I’m left with limited choices. I find it incrediably difficult to motivate myself to do work for modules that I’m not interested in even though I’m quite good at tricking myself into finding something interesting, but that has its limitations. Annoyingly I can’t ever really explain what aspects of Theology I’m interested in because it’s usually very specific facts/ideas, rather than the whole subject (although I am incrediably fond of the Early Church).. For example, I disliked a module I did in Hinduism, except for learning that the statues of the gods technicaly own everything in their temple and are ceremoniously paraded around so they can see what they own. Luckily I’m currently able to do a number of subsidary modules in other departments.

Well, thank you for taking the time to participating in my little project! You shall have the last word!

Thanks for asking me to be involved! Best of luck with it!

I want to take this opportunity to thank Lizzy once more for participating in the interview and taking time out of her otherwise busy schedule to answer some questions :) Head over to Marching Stars to find out more about zines and order some; you will not be disappointed!