I'm Aoife, a 15-year-old from London, and I am the founder and editor-in-chief of Par Contre (French for 'On the other hand'), a gen-z zine about all sorts of activism.

I've have long since been passionate about activism and making a difference, especially the devastating climate crisis that surrounds us today. Lockdown has been tough for us all, and for a while, it really managed to quell my creative spirits.

An idea for a zine had been swilling around in my head for a while, but it wasn't until November that I began making plans to actually start it, deciding a title, subject matter and our USP! I enlisted the help of some friends, who were also looking for a way to express themselves, and 'Par Contre' was born.

I started the zine in late December 2020, and in January, we announced the theme for issue 1: New Beginnings.

Since then, we have gained over 200 followers on instagram and received submissions of art, poetry, photography, short stories and so much more from across the world.

However, as a student in my GCSE year, I do not have the funds to cover the cost of both printing the zine, and creating a website to sell it on.

I am currently using Wix to create my website, which is free. But, if you want to create a shop, and link a bank account, you immediately have to par £156 for the year.

I plan to print the zine using mixam, which would cost £144 for 50 A4 issues.

Therefore, overall to print and list the zine on our website, it would cost £300. Currently, we do not have a domain either, but this is of lower priority. Check out our website here.

I would be eternally grateful to anyone who donates, and I am planning on putting a page in the zine listing and thanking anyone who helped in creating the first issue of Par Contre. If you would like your name on this list, please donate!

Thanks,

Aoife