Trash to Treasure: Free Zine-making Workshops for Camden locals aged 17-22

You don't have to write like Charles Dickens to make a statement...

Join the Cut Out Club team for Trash to Treasure—a series of free, hands-on zine-making workshops inspired by the life, work, and world of Charles Dickens, taking place in his former Camden home at 48 Doughty Street.

Have an exclusive topic-themed tour of the museum complete with handling objects to spark discussion and get crafty and creative. 

Each session will have a different theme and creative prompt to make zines reflecting on those themes through a modern lens. 

• Identity - Sunday 8 June, 1-4pm:
  Explore themes of identity, self-representation and legacy to create a mini zine inspired by objects and stories in the Charles Dickens Museum. Creatively examine your own identity and build characters inspired by Dickens’ fictional worlds. 

• Memory - Sunday 15 June 1-4pm:
  Create unique ‘penny zines’ inspired by Charles Dickens’ written correspondence and explore the theme of memory through letter writing. Learn a new folding technique and get creative in this hands on writing and collage zine making workshop.

• Food - Sunday 22 June 1-4pm:
  Explore how food has long been entangled with power, class, and inequality and uncover the hidden narratives behind food. How does food speak to social inequality, from Victorian times up to the present day? We'll explore the fascinating and horrifying practice of food adulteration or ‘fake food’ through first hand documents, then create a food-themed zine to expose the darker side of what we eat…

But wait, what is a zine? 'Zines' (like the word maga-zine) are self-published codex booklets that can be made by anyone to share ideas with the world. You do not need to be an artist to make a zine because the DIY nature of zines provides an open invitation to everyone! Zine-making is your chance to speak out, remix the past and get creative. 

As we mark 100 years in Camden, we’re celebrating the voices, stories, and creativity that shape our borough - past, present and future - and this is the perfect opportunity to be a part of the story.

These workshops are open to Camden locals and students aged 17-22 years, and we especially welcome young members of local Camden-based community and support groups. 

Book here

The Charles Dickens Museum is an inclusive and accessible space. Find out more about how we can support your participation through our access pages.

This project is generously supported by Love Camden through the Cultural Learning and Education Support fund: