You don’t need to know how to draw. You don’t need to call yourself a writer.
You just need something you’re curious about.
It could be about yourself. A person you want to understand better. A place you care about. Something you’ve been wondering about.
What happens when you follow that curiosity — ask a few questions, notice more closely, put it together in your own way?
That curiosity can become a zine.
And we’re inviting you to make one.
Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh (CMP) and Public Source are working together to engage people of all ages to create small, self-made booklets that explore the people, places and experiences around us.
Zines can take many forms. They can be made from a single folded page or something more detailed.
No experience is required.
You can make one on your own, with friends or family or as part of a class or community group.
Some of the zines will be part of an interactive display at MuseumLab, CMP’s newest space in the former Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny, and then will travel to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Select zines may also be published online by Public Source.
Together, these zines will create a snapshot of the Pittsburgh region — told from many different points of view. People will be able to flip through them, see how others experience the same places and discover stories they might not come across otherwise.
This is a chance to follow your curiosity, create something of your own and share it with others.
What is a zine?
A zine (pronounced zeen) is an independently made publication, often created to share art, stories, ideas or community voices outside traditional publishing. It might include writing, poetry, drawings, interviews, photos, collage, diagrams, timelines or a mix.
They can be serious, playful, personal or reported.
Who this is for
- Kids, teens and adults
- Families, classrooms and community groups
- Creatives, artists, writers, journalists, students
- People in the Pittsburgh region
Submissions may be curated for different age groups and display settings.
Prompts to get you started
You can respond to one of these prompts, combine a few or follow a curiosity of your own:
- What are you curious about right now?
Follow the question wherever it leads. You might wonder what your teacher does outside of school, why adulthood feels different from what you expected or how something in your neighborhood works. - Who would you like to understand better?
Start a conversation and ask open-ended questions. You might ask: What is a story about you that rarely gets told? What matters more to you now than it did a few years ago? What was a turning point in your life? - What topic keeps coming up at home, school, work or in your community?
Ask a few people how they experience it. What do their perspectives have in common? Where do they differ? - What place do you want to look at more closely?
Explore a block, building, business, park, bus route or gathering place. What happens there? Who uses it? What stories or details might other people overlook? - What tradition or experience do you want others to know about?
Show where it came from, what it means to you or your community and how it may be changing. - What surprised you once you started asking questions?
Your zine can tell the story of how your thinking changed, what challenged your assumptions or what you still want to understand.
How to participate
Make a zine
You can create a zine on your own, with others or through one of our free workshops. You do not need to attend a workshop to submit a zine.
Attend a workshop (August-September 2026)
Workshops will be hosted at the MuseumLab and partner locations and may include:
- Zine-making basics
- Nonfiction storytelling
- Interviewing and asking questions
- Cartooning and visual storytelling
- Bookbinding.
Watch for announcements in our newsletters and social media or reach out directly to us for information or if you would like to host a workshop.
Submit your zine
- Physical zines can be submitted at workshops or dropped off at MuseumLab, 6 Allegheny Square East. They can also be mailed to Public Source at 1936 5th Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15219.
- Digital submissions (PDFs or photos) will be accepted. Please fill out and upload your zine to this form. For larger files, upload it to Google Drive and share the link with info@publicsource.org. Set the link sharing so anyone can view the file.
- For all submissions, please include your name, neighborhood or municipality of residence, contact info and a short description of your zine.
Physical zines selected for display may be kept for an extended period and may not be returned. Because this is an evolving exhibit, we cannot guarantee how long individual submissions will remain on display or be preserved.
What happens next
Timeline:
- Late July 2026: Open call launches.
- August-September 2026: Zine and storytelling workshops. Submit your zines!
- Sept. 30, 2026: Zine submission deadline.
- October 2026: Zines curated for public display and online publication.
- November 2026: Exhibit opens and select work published on publicsource.org.
- Early 2027: Exhibit travels to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, where community members can continue to browse the zines and submit their own.
The exhibit will be interactive. Visitors will be able to browse zines, flip through them and make their own alongside the display. New zines may be added over time.
Why we’re doing this
This project brings together creativity, journalism and community storytelling. By encouraging people to ask questions and share what they learn, we hope to spark curiosity, build empathy and highlight the people, places and experiences that shape life across the Pittsburgh region.
Interested in partnering?
We are also looking to collaborate with educators, community centers, classrooms, youth organizations, artists, printmakers and community groups to help host workshops and spread the word. Please email halle@publicsource.org if interested.
