The zine – a little booklet or pamphlet, hand-drawn and photocopied or printed on personal computer, lovingly put together by aficionados of everything from comics to politics to art to personal stories to pretty much anything that the writer is interested in, all distributed to a handful of like-minded, ziney types. A lot of time, energy and effort goes into the production of these things, often for no payback other than the joy of spreading your artwork, opinions and interests.

As a creative practice, zines have been thriving for decades across a spectrum of artistic and political scenes, and have undergone something of a revival in the last 20 years, despite the spread of digital media, which many predicted would signal the end of the home-made, minority interest publications. To this end, Usurp Gallery in West Harrow is hosting Harrow’s first ever zine fair to showcase self-published zines from across the UK and encourage the set-up of a ‘zine scene’ in the area.

“There’s a complete lack of DIY art culture in north London,” says Rose Nordin, who has been volunteering at Usurp for the past six months and whose idea the fair was, “you always have to go into central or east London. But the artistic director at Usurp, Poulomi Desai, is quite involved in the zine scene in London and she’s always wanted to have a fair in Harrow, so we’re doing this.”

Visitors will be able to visit the stalls to buy and swap zines, there will be talks and workshops throughout the day, on subjects like being an independent zine maker and printing, and the day will end with a Q&A session with experienced producers. The fair will also mark the launch of the Usurp Zine Club, a community that Rose and the team hope will support and encourage local zinesters.

“Creating a scene in Harrow is definitely our goal,” says Rose, “and we’re hoping that launching the club will help do that. It will be a monthly meet-up where people from the area support each other in producing zines, and every month there will be a different artist giving a talk, to help zinesters grown, learn and produce.”

Exhibiting on the day will be Jasmine Fung, Monster Emporium Press, Walrus Zines, Other Asias and Jimi Gherkin, among many others. Rose is hoping the event will draw out local artists and zine producers.

Rose, 24, studied illustration at college and is, of course, a zine producer herself. “I’m really in love with it,” she says, “it’s always been my intention to do little comics and graphic novels.”

Usurp zine fair is at Usurp Gallery, Vaughan Road, West Harrow on Saturday, April 28 from 11am to 7pm. Details: 020 8426 6264, www.usurp.org.uk