Are you a Zinester?

The Zinesters Talking series will be coming to the Multnomah County Central Library for one last time before the wrap up of the annual event at the North Portland Library on Oct. 27. Julia Gfrörer, author of Ariadne auf Naxos, and Lisa Eisenberg, author of I Cut My Hair will be sharing their stories on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

This year marks the fifth year of the zine author showcase put on by Multnomah County’s libraries. Christopher Cuttone, who has been organizing the event for the past three years, chose the authors for the series this year.

“They’re chosen mostly from when we purchase new zines and they get added to the collection and I have the opportunity to review them and see who the local authors are, and who has interesting work,” Cuttone said.

The Multnomah County Library system, which consists of 16 libraries, is Oregon’s largest public library and first started carrying zines in their libraries in January of 2007, according to Cuttone.

“However, there was a group of people that were working on getting zines into the library before that,” Cuttone said. “Initially, one of the first ways that they were made available was when [the library] bought a small collection used for teen lounges for after school programs for kids’ grades six to 12.”

Gfrörer will be performing Ariadne auf Naxos which are “comics about time and death, gods and saints, knights and spies, babysitting, the apocalypse, courtesy phones and the benefits of being a ghost,” according to the Zine Library Group.

Gfrörer’s recent work also includes, among others, All the Ancient Kings, a series of short, interrelated stories starring musical and literary legends Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Warren Zevon, and Hunter S. Thompson. Judging from this comic, Gfrörer’s performance will certainly have a raw edge.

The stories in All the Ancient Kings include other special guest stars, such as Kurt Cobain providing heroin for the crew, who then take a trip to Fantasia and ride the creature from the movie The Neverending Story.

Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg, author and illustrator, began writing zines about three years ago.  However, she did know about the medium before she considered writing them.

“I’ve known about zines for a really long time. The first ones I remember reading was when I went to punk shows in New Jersey growing up,” Eisenberg said. “They would be handing them out, and I would read them and hold onto them. I thought they were cool.”

Eisenberg’s I Cut My Hair, issues one and two, are more than just an account of her daily life, but also a reflection of the meaning of life’s ups and downs. The tone of the stories makes them relatable, and the illustrations and print is detailed, but large enough to read.

I Cut My Hair addresses everything from life in Portland, hectic schedules, social status, dating, pets and comic book-writing to running, biking and hula hooping.

“I hope that [the readers are] entertained,” Eisenberg said. “And that they find something they can relate to enough or are entertained enough that they’re really engaged.”