Pod People has arrived: stories to travel with

Jordi Kerr

Media release dated: Monday 17 November 2008

The second installment of popular commuter zine Story To… has arrived and is centered on the theme Pod People. This issue has more pages, allowing a more ambitious grouping of literary and design talent.

Designed by Christopher Gray, Pod People has a selection of words and images by young creators from all over Australia including: Crystal Andrews, James C Spinks, Simon Smithson, Estelle Tang, Kathryn Ledson, Angela Meyer, Sean Greenhill, Sudeep Lingamneni, Jordi Kerr, Kellyanne Gentle and Richard Ibrahim.

“The theme, Pod People, was a reaction to the fact that so many people who travel on public transport bury themselves in their music. We wanted to show them the train station life they are oblivious to,” says Kate Nicholson, co-creator and editor.

“We are happy we chose an open call for submissions for this issue and lucky that we got such a large number of quality artwork emailed in to us. This has made for a very interesting collection of short fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, illustration and photography,” says Beth Keating, co-creator and editor.

Story To… was founded in July this year and is now onto its second issue. It aims to give Melbourne’s public transport travellers an intelligent and free literary alternative whilst providing publishing opportunities to emerging artists.

Story To… Issue Two: Pod People is available free from selected zine distros or as a free download from this blog.

New zine distro in Sydney

A new zine distro is currently being set up in Sydney and they are calling for zines.

Food zines, perzines, good drawings, humorous, political and alternative zines… a bit of everything. Maybe even some kitten-related zines. So if you know those sorta kids or are those sorta kids, come into the light!

Contact susy.pow@gmail.com for more info.

Rival to mX hits the subway

The newest publication to grace the hands of Melbourne commuters will be launched on Wednesday 9 July.

Make sure you’re at Degraves Subway, outside Sticky Institute, from 4 – 6pm to grab your limited edition free copy of the first issue of Story To…

With photography and fiction pieces by local emerging creators the publication is a sensory feast, designed to make the journey to and from work or school that much easier. At 12 pages it’s a short read and, being transport themed, aims to make you look at your surroundings in a different light.

Story To… was co-founded and edited by Kate Nicholson and Beth Keating and has been produced with the help of a grant from Vibewire’s Melbourne Media Makers program.

‘We’ve been working on this idea for over a year so it’s great to see Story To… in print,’ Ms Nicholson said. `We’re just happy we can offer Melbourne’s public a great read for their daily commute.’

A reading of one of the Story To… pieces will take place at the Melbourne Media Makers Showcase at Horse Bazaar on Sunday 13 July, 4-9pm.

‘Vibewire is pleased to be giving young people the opportunity to create their own media,’ said Lisa Pham, Project Coordinator for the Melbourne Media Makers 2008 program.

Work has already begun on Story To… Issue Two so keep your eyes peeled for the next instalment of this soon-to-be Melbourne institution.

A PDF of the publication is also available for download on this website.

Issue One is here!

The first issue of Story To… is here – and just a click away.

Based around the theme of Melbourne trains, Issue One offers a series of compelling short stories and images by some of the city’s most exciting emerging writers and artists.

click here for issue one

So, what do you think?

This project was completed with the assistance of Vibewire’s Media Makers Mini Fund. For any enquiries, comments or agony aunt-esque issues, please contact us.