ZINES have been the home of punk movements, feminist revolutions,
marginalised voices, survivor voices, and underground artists since the 1970s.
They have been photocopied, hand-stapled, passed between hands, left on tables, posted to friends.
They exist because mainstream publishing was never built for the voices that matter most.
DIFFICULT BY DESIGN belongs entirely to the people who fill it.
A place where courage is published.
We are an independent publication. No gatekeepers.
aINE TYRRELL is hosting the publication OF DIFFICULT BY DESIGN IN COMMUNITY LED EDITORIAL CARE.
A collective OF support from Ya'dijin (First Nations Women's Healing Collective) + BRISSC (Brisbane Rape + Incest Crisis Centre) + CHARLIE RAE ARTworK are curating Issue No.1,
with the aim to have many more GRASSROOTS Collectives involved IN CURATION AS we grow.
THE IDEA cAme from ten years of hosting workshops and never knowing where to send people to get published.
Working alongside BRISSC, Ya'dijin, + the growing number of grassroots community groups, WE DECIDED WE are not waiting for anyone to value THIS work anymore.
we are building our own space, for people like us, stories like ours.
we'd love to welcome YOU in.
WHAT WE ARE:
A collective zine amplifying voices of courage in all their forms,
rooted in the belief that writing + art are not decorative.
They are medicinal. They are weapons.
They are the beginning of every uprising that ever mattered.
DBD is a calling from those sitting in
survivor-HEALING-THRIVER spaces+ creative spaces + community spaces,
using their art as tools for healing + resistance.
COLLECTIVELY WE ARE A match lit.
WE WRITE IN DEFIANCE OF THE people who told US WE WERE TOO MUCH.
WE WritE truths that come from lived experiences of survival + resistance.
WE KNOW THE dominant industries + institutions control the narrative to restrict whose stories are platformed.
WE KNOW THIS silencing is by design NOT BECAUSE OF TALENT.
DBD IS BORN in direct opposition to that design.
WE WELCOME:
the Messy. Political. Too much. Exactly right…
All forms of writing + art welcome:
* Poetry, prose, personal essays + hybrid forms
* Illustration, photography, collage, hand-drawn work * Political writing, testimony, witness
* Work that is angry, grieving, joyful, defiant, or all of these at once
* Work in languages other than English * Anonymous submissions + pseudonyms
* Work that IS UNIQUELY YOUR OWN
If you have been told your work is too raw, too honest,
or too MUCH, DBD is the home it was looking for.
We aim for 1-page SUBMISSIONS
To make space for as many voices as can fit.
WE welcome words only / WORDS + ArtworK / STANDALONE ART
Our creative team can work and build around ALL SUBMISSIONS TO FIT THE ZINE.
DBD PRIORITISES:
the voices ‘INDUSTRY’ DIDN’T BUILD DOORS FOR, THE VOICES of:
*Working class communities, First Nations people, Women,
trans, and gender diverse people, single parents, Disabled and
neurodivergent people, Migrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking people,
Survivors of violence and systemic harm, People navigating
survival economies, Young people finding their first brave words*
This is not box-ticking. It is an acknowledgment that these
voices carry a medicine our communities need,
and have been structurally excluded from
spaces that claim to value storytelling.
NO INVITATION, No credentials, OR publication HISTORY required.
WE ARE NOT A SPACE FOR:
* Racist, queerphobic, transphobic, or ableist content
* Content that reproduces harm against any community
* Or Work that is not your own
DBD is accountable to community.
There are no gatekeepers but there is collective responsibility.
* If a submission may cause harm, someone may reach out (if time permits) with AN option to resubmit within these values
DBD will make every effort to prevent cultural appropriation
and to honour cultural and community protocols.
This is a living commitment, not a policy document.
HOW DBD IS FUNDED:
DIFFICULT BY DESIGN is free to read and free to contribute to. The costs of creating, printing, and distributing the zine
may be supported by ÁINE TYRRELL, community organisations, grants, and voluntary donations collected online IN PERSON BY DBD COLLECTIVE.
These contributions help cover production costs. They do not purchase ownership of anyone’s work, influence what is published, or give funders editorial control.
DBD will not sell or license contributors’ work for commercial profit. Any future changes to how the zine
is funded or distributed will be communicated clearly and made with contributors’ consent.
DBD IS A NOT FOR PROFIT. THE DBD SUPPORT COLLECTIVE IS WORKING TO AMPLIFY VOICES.
HOW DBD IS cURATED:
We aim to include as many voices as possible in each issue, and will always prioritise those who have been systemically excluded from publishing.
FOR ISSUE #1 submissions are reviewed by four curators from diverse collectives: Ya’dijin, BRISSC, Charlie Rae Art, and Áine Tyrrell.
Future issues will feature rotating panels of guest curators drawn from grassroots collectives. We plan to publish quarterly, and where necessary, submissions that cannot be accommodated in a given issue may be carried forward for consideration in the next.
YOUR WORK. YOUR RIGHTS. ALWAYS.
By submitting, you are giving permission for your work to be published as part of the ZINE in both print and digital form. Your work will never be reproduced for profit by DBD,
and any use of work for promotion will always be consent-based. This is a survivor space, and consent is not a formality here. It is a foundation.
DBD WILL BE publicly available, DISTRIBUTED ONLINE + THROUGH THE SUPPORT COLLECTIVES NETWORK, so please consider what you are sharing.
