LYNN — Olivia Werth has released the first edition of her zine publication called Prismatic, which highlights LGBTQ+ work. But this is just the beginning for Prismatic, with Werth planning to make it a quarterly publication.
The first edition consists of just her work, from poetry to essays.
“[It’s] about my experiences growing up being a trans person,” Werth said. “I only started transitioning a couple years ago so a lot of this is fairly new to me still in terms of sharing my story with people, and so being able to kind of put myself out there a little bit, and in poetry form, was something I enjoyed doing.”
The idea for Prismatic originally came from Werth’s spouse, Niki Werth, who did all of the graphics for the zine. It was initially only going to be handed out at the city’s pride-flag raising to bring awareness to issues like “trans kids being deprived of health care” and other LGBTQ+ rights that are at risk of being stripped across the country, she said.
When she heard of the Lynnspire grants from the city, the initial idea became something bigger.
“We decided to try to increase the footprint of this and make it not just a one-time publication to be handed out at that event, but let’s make it an ongoing zine to try to bring together the community here in Lynn and to try to get our stories out in front of other people who aren’t part of the LGBTQ community,” Werth said.
For the future editions, she wants to include submissions of poems, artwork, and other media from those in the community who identify as LGBTQ+.
“Whatever kind of thing they would like to contribute to try to help everybody get to know each other a bit better and understand who we are as a community,” Werth said.
Only 1% of the population identify as trans, which Werth said makes them a target for politicians and the media.
“Misinformation can be out there and we’re hoping to become a way to let us tell our stories, so people maybe can see that the stuff is not the truth,” Werth said. “Speak who we really are and that we’re just regular people who just happen to be different in some way.”
Copies of Prismatic are being sold on prismaticlynn.com and will be handed out at the pride-flag raising on June 20 at City Hall.
Those who want to submit work for future editions can visit the contact page on Prismatic’s website.
“They can let us know what they’re interested in, we can start a dialogue with them about what they would like to contribute, and we’re hoping to be able to provide small stipends in exchange for the work,” Werth said. “Any money coming in would be going to publication costs and to provide those small stipends for people submitting for future issues, to be able to keep us going.”
