I know many people are heartbroken by the end of Berena, and that there are some people who are really struggling with the grief that they’re experiencing, and have been experiencing for several weeks. Like a lot of others in the fandom, I am always happy and willing to lend an ear and offer some words of consolation, and my inbox has been open on Twitter for some time, for that very reason. I’m very conscious, though, of the limits of my ability to help where someone is experiencing a mental health crisis and may need more than kind words – no matter how much I want to help, I’m not trained to do so.   With that in mind, I thought it might be useful to share a few resources. These are UK based, but if anyone has any further recommendations here or elsewhere, feel free to let me know and I will add them. Just to note: I am not planning on ignoring the messages that I get, I just want to try and ensure that people are safe. - Samaritans offer phone or email support, ...

A couple of weeks ago  I floated the idea  of a second issue of Sapphic Angst Fest, and quite a few people seemed keen. So let’s do it!  THEME:  meeting people – friends, lovers, collaborators, arch nemeses – through Berena. Interpret that however you like! Not  every  piece submitted needs to be on this theme, but hopefully this theme provides enough inspiration for most people. Solo and group submissions welcome. There will, I hope, be a page for people to make contact with others, so if you're looking for friends, penpals, that special someone, feel free to submit a few lines for that.                     CONTENT:  anything you want that’ll go on a page. You can write something (prose, poetry, whatever), draw something, collage, use photographs… the world is your oyster (aye aye!). Take a look at the  first issue  if you want to see what sort of thing people did last time.  ...

My body currently has no idea what time of day it is - after three nights in Toronto, I'm back in England, and I haven't felt in sync with the clock for about a week. I'm hungry at completely random moments. It's been totally worth it, though, because on Saturday evening, our Berena zine, Sapphic Angst Fest , was named Best Fanzine at the Broken Pencil Zine Awards! The competition was impressive, and as I heard about the zines that we were up against, I was sweating (and not just because the weather over there was amazing). Several of the other zines were so well produced, and spoke of north American culture - and there was me trying to tell people what Holby City is, and who the heck Berena are. So I must admit I was quite surprised when they named Sapphic Angst Fest the winner! Here's a video of the moment (I didn't realise they were filming, otherwise I'd have tried to look a bit cooler about it all). The judges said the zine was "culturally imp...

As some of you may already have seen on Twitter, our zine about Berena, Sapphic Angst Fest , has been shortlisted along with five other titles in the Fanzine category at this year’s Broken Pencil Zine Awards . Broken Pencil is a huge zine about zines, based in Toronto; the zine’s been running since the mid-90s and they hold these awards annually. Although it’s a global competition, we’re the only zine from outside North America to be shortlisted! The winners will be announced on 22 September, but all of the shortlisted zines will be showcased at Canzine Toronto – and they want to sell copies of them online and at various events throughout the rest of the year. This is so exciting, and I’m absolutely made up for everyone who contributed to getting this zine together. Kudos, Berena fandom. If you want to get your hands on a copy of the zine, email me: g.turner@liverpool.ac.uk

Just in time for the return of Bernie Wolfe, you can now view Sapphic Angst Fest online ! Some of the pages didn't particularly like being uploaded, but for the most part you should be able to read/see things - and there's a bar at the bottom that allows you to magnify pages that prove a bit more difficult. I know it's not perfect, but it's not too bad... The platform also gives us a way of adding to the zine without the need for additional funding for printing and so on. I don't know if anyone will want to add anything, but one or two people mentioned that they might, so if the mood takes you now or over the coming weeks and months, then please feel free to send me your page or pages as a pdf , and I will add them as swiftly as I can. Thanks and well done again to everyone who has contributed: the feedback has been brilliant. I had an email from Catherine and she thought it was incredible, so hats off.

I thought it was time for a quick update on the zine project... First of all thank you to everyone who contributed! The zine looks pretty fantastic, and we've had so many positive messages from people who've read it. I initially ordered 100 copies thinking that would be plenty, but they flew out of the door, so I ordered another 100. Around a third of those have gone as well, some to people who messaged me asking for copies, some to people who attended the Northwest Zinefest in Manchester on 6 May. I'm also sending copies to a couple of archives, and I've been asked to send some along to Strange Perfume , an LGBTQIA book fair that takes place later this month, in London. The other thing I thought I'd share is that I've entered the zine in the 'Compilation Zine' category of the  Broken Pencil Zine Awards . It'll be up against some stiff competition, no doubt, but I thought entering would be a nice way to celebrate everyone's amazing work! ...

Happy new year everyone! I’m really excited about 2018, and not just because Serena (and maybe even Bernie) will be back on our screens; I’m excited because we’re making our Berena zine! Some info for anyone who’s missed this so far: -        The zine is about the impact of Berena (storyline and/or fandom) on you – you can write, draw, collage, pretty much whatever you want to do. The idea is to create ‘an archive of feelings’ – something that preserves not just images from popular culture, but also their emotional affect. “The feelings that accompany media events are as important as those events.” [1] I really hope we can create our own little archive of feelings (good/bad/mad/whatever) about Berena. Here’s a previous blog post about why I started out on this. -        I have a venue booked in Liverpool for a day of collaborating on the zine, which takes place on 10 February 2018, and there are still places ava...