WEIRDO is a UK-based zine and collective documenting and celebrating the experiences, perspectives and contributions of South Asian people in alternative subcultures (e.g., punk and goth) around the world.

WEIRDO was founded in 2019 by Naz Toorabally and we are a growing collective aiming to improve the visibility of and provide opportunities for alternative South Asian people through our website articles, print/digital zine, events and collaborations.

WEIRDO is by and primarily for people of South Asian heritage in the alternative scene. It’s a space to connect with and learn from other South Asian weirdos. WEIRDO contributors and community members are the freaks, the outsiders, and the misunderstood of South Asian heritage.

South Asian is an umbrella term for people with heritage from the Indian subcontinent - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. And here are some subcultures you might identify with (this is not an exhaustive list): goth, punk, cybergoth, steampunk, emo, scene, skater, grunge, metalhead, fetish, witch, cosplay.

If you’re South Asian and influenced by/identify with an alternative subculture and want to join our collective, online community or contribute to our website, please get in touch!

If you’re not of South Asian heritage or don’t consider yourself as part of an alternative subculture, then we welcome you to explore our website and zines to expand your knowledge and perceptions of what it means to be South Asian.

Yes and no. WEIRDO is specifically dedicated to connecting and improving the visibility of alternative South Asians, therefore if that doesn’t describe you and you’d like to write for our website or zine, your work will not be considered unless it’s related to the alternative South Asian community.

We collaborate with people outside of our community (this includes people who are not of South Asian heritage) as part of improving visibility and demanding better representation. We’re always open to collaborating with people who are interested in the purpose of this platform (e.g. designers, photographers etc), so please email your ideas to weirdo.zine@gmail.com.

South Asian zines:

• Burnt Roti

• The Rights Collective

Zines uplifting people of colour:

• Decolonise Fest Zine

• Zindabad

• Skin Deep

• Tell your friends about us

• Become a contributor - see the FAQs below for more info

• Read and share our blog posts so we can reach more people

• Subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest news

• Follow us on Instagram and/or Twitter and engage with our content

• Buy our digital or print issue - this helps us pay our contributors

• Leave a donation! Your donation goes directly to paying our contributors and maintaining this platform.

Just email weirdo.zine@gmail.com with the following:

• A short bio (50-100 words) about you including the subculture(s) you identify with

• A proposal (100-300 words) outlining your idea

Please have a read of some of the articles on our website to get an idea of the type of content we publish.

We aim to respond to everyone who sends us a proposal, but this isn’t always possible. If your idea is appropriate for WEIRDO, we will let you know when and how to submit your work. Please note, WEIRDO is a platform for people of South Asian descent in the alternative scene.

We’re open to all types of submissions from essays and interviews to artwork and photography. Whether you want to share a piece about alternative fashion and beauty, an interview with someone you think we should feature, your music or playlist, or a personal piece on your experiences, we want to hear from you.

Ideally, your idea will be inspired by subculture. Have a look at the articles on our website to get an idea of the variety of topics covered.

Drop us an email to discuss your idea!

The majority of website articles are unpaid. However, where we have received funding for a specific article series, writers are paid.

This platform is not-for-profit and we recognise that it would not exist without our contributors. We hope to be able to pay writers for blog submissions in the future.

Submissions are currently closed for WEIRDO Zine. Please keep an eye out on Instagram for when submissions reopen.

WEIRDO is small not-for-profit project and we recognise that it would not exist without our contributors. Our upcoming third issue is the first issue where we have been able to pay illustrators and writers.

We aim to continue this with future issues. The amount will depend on available funds, but we aim for £50-100 depending on the length of an article/type of submission.

We aim to publish our print zine annually.

Print issues are limited edition and we generally only do one print run per issue. This is so we can keep the cost of running this publication low and save paper.

WEIRDO started as a zine run by one person and as this community grew, we became a collective.

Our collective are people who are part of the WEIRDO Community who volunteer their time to support and maintain WEIRDO. We have the shared goal of documenting and celebrating South Asian people in alternative subcultures. While most opportunities are unpaid, there are some paid opportunities.

We’re looking for writers, photographers, videographers events assistants, social media assistants and finance assistants to join our collective. Please fill out this form if you’re interested in joining our collective.

If you’re of South Asian heritage and identify as part of the alternative scene, please fill out this form and someone will be in touch!