꙳∿ Portal opening ∿꙳

To mark the opening of the Black Zine Fair Reading Room, join us for an experimental convergence of readings, sound, and collective reflection. The night will drift between lyric, memory, and sonic experimentation, opening the room not as a static archive—but as a resonant space of transmission, disruption, and connection.

Curated and hosted by tash nikol
DJ set by keiyaA
Readings by Cierra Peters, Malcolm Tariq, Maybe Tucker & DA HOLOGRAM.

tash nikol is an editor, poet, and worker-owner of Grace Issues Press from the South. Their work honors Black and Indigenous ancestral practices and memorializes the book as vital ancient technology.
keiyaA is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and a record producer. She independently released her debut album Forever, Ya Girl in 2020.
Cierra Peters is an artist and writer currently based in Brooklyn, NY. Her practice includes video, installation, writing, and experimental publishing. She is currently an MFA candidate at Yale School of Art.
Malcolm Tariq is a poet and playwright from Savannah, Georgia. He is the author of Heed the Hollow (Graywolf, 2019), winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and the 2020 Georgia Author of the Year Award in Poetry. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and directs the Prison and Justice Writing Program at PEN America.
Maybe Tucker is a Black lesbian poet, dj, and hopefully more. They are fond of weird sounds, horror movies, and making things up. They are curious about Blackness as a means for computation. You can find them online as @grlcomputer on instagram and soundcloud.
DA HOLOGRAM is a multidisciplinary artist and storyteller who makes psychedelic Black power comics.

The Black Zine Fair Reading Room at Secret Riso Club is a month-long installation in celebration of Juneteenth. The Reading Room is an intimate, living archive that honors the legacy and future of Black publishing, rooted in southern traditions, abolitionist thought, and collective struggle. As censorship and cultural repression escalate, this space offers a site for reflection, imagination, and care. Through community activations like this one, the Black Zine Fair continues its mission to uplift Black independent publishing as both a creative practice and a political response.