Table of Zines is part of a collective programme under A Baca Collective, organised by Nui Kopi, Books RnR, and Ruang Kongsi, held in conjunction with the George Town Literary Festival 2025.
We first discovered the open call for this exhibition on Instagram and decided to contribute several of our zines. The aim of the exhibition is to introduce, encourage, and nurture both reading culture and zine-making culture within the local community.
The programme also features a zine reading club, movie screening, reading corner, a pictorial books showcase, and reading space mapping, all thoughtfully spread across the heart of George Town.
What made the initiative even more meaningful was the team behind it, organisers coming from a wide range of experienced backgrounds, including journalism, bookstores, photography, art-making, publishing, cultural work, and writing. Their combined perspectives created a programme that truly reflected the richness of Malaysia’s creative ecosystem.
We also had the chance to speak to some of the people behind the exhibition. Their passion was immediately obvious, they were genuinely curious about how visitors would respond to the zine culture they were presenting. Our conversation drifted into the question of how to define a zine from different perspectives, and why the act of turning a thought or story into a physical, hand-held zine remains so important.
Zine culture has always mattered, and will continue to matter, because zines capture the contemporary voice of their era. They are raw, personal, and unfiltered, a reflection of the people who make them, and the time they were created in. At its core, zine-making is about giving space to voices that deserve to be heard.
It was heartwarming to see people in George Town who genuinely care about the importance of literacy come together to celebrate both book reading and book making, a reminder of how powerful community-driven efforts can be in nurturing local creative culture.