Zine Mela: South Asian Journeys in DIY Cultures is an annual zine fair, reading room, archive, art collection, film programme, solidarity network talks forum on indy publishing and alternative spaces, hang out space.

South Asia meaning Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indian, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, Afghanistan, Adivasi first nations and their global diasporas across Caribbean, Africa, Latin America, Europe, Americas, Arab World and South Asian language orientations from Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu to Bengali to Tamil, South Asian variations of English, hybrid slang.

Curated & Founded by Hamja Ahsan - involved in zine making and collecting for over 30 years since the early 1990s. Pioneered POC-led Zine cultures with the creative activist festival DIY Cultures curated with Sofia Niazi and Helena Wee (2013-2017) which transformed the zine scene in London, nationally and transnationally, across Asia and Africa, from a Eurocentric White hipster dominated scene.

The inaugural zine mela took place in 2025 at WIP Space, London - July- August. The project will travel to Folkestone 6th-8th February 2026 #ZineMela2026 and become a nomadic zine reading room, zine fair, open archive, board games, indie comics, graphics and illustration, a hang out space to makes, read, chill, play, inspire and investigate. Get in touch to host any aspect of its collection or to invite Hamja Ahsan as a guest speaker.