'Manifest' by Mahogany Journal: A Zine Launch

Disclaimer: This zine and launch contain mature themes that are not suitable for young readers.

Founded in 2020, Mahogany Journal has published five digital issues, showcasing over forty +65 South Asian authors. This year we launch Manifest, our first physical publication, partly made possible through the Jalan Besar Fellowship by Sing Lit Station. The zine ruminates on the idea of manifestation – its allure, necessity, pitfalls and even dangers.

Manifest is a 52-page full-colour zine (cover to cover) that includes:

• A variety of forms from letters and recipes to poetry and advertorials, all inspired by magazines of the 90s;
• Contributors Noonherd, Anittha Thanabalan, Nitya Nedyam, Yashmita D/O Ananthan, Gayathrii Nathan, Subash Kumar, Uma Jayaraman, Paati and Kirthiga Ravindaran;
• Featured writers culture writer Chandreyee Ray, spoken word poet Shivram Gopinath and content creator Preeti Nair; and
• An exclusive Manifest sticker sheet when you pre-order the zine, containing 13 elements inspired by our 13 pieces

Please scroll to the bottom of the page for a sneak peek of our cover and sticker sheet!

Why buy our zine?
We are a non-profit literary journal by, about and for +65 South Asians born or based in Singapore. Since our conception, we have committed to paying our writers and artists an honorarium, and have raised funds via paid events (such as launches and workshops) and occasional donations from members of the public. Buying our zine will go towards covering the following costs:

• Honorarium for writers – Over the years, we've raised our rates from $15 and $30 per poem or piece of prose to $20 and $40 respectively. For this zine, we paid each contributor $40 and each featured writer $100.
• Honorarium for artists – Over the years, we've raised our rates for cover art from $50 in Issue 1 to S$100 for subsequent digital issues. This zine, we have expanded our usual engagement with artists to work with an artist who not only illustrated our cover but also designed the overall layout. While we are unable to disclose the exact cost, we can state that it is significantly higher than S$100.
• Printing costs – Manifest is our first print publication, and is a full-colour digital booklet. The pre-ordered zines will also include a mirrorcoat sticker sheet. In total, our printing costs (including the proofing process) comes up to around $1200 for a print run of 150 copies.
• Transaction fees – We have opted to absorb the ticketing fees usually imposed by Eventbrite so that our supporters are not blindsided by additional costs when checking out their orders.
• Venue rental costs – This launch is the first event where we've rented a venue purely because we wanted to accommodate a larger audience (twice as large as our usual), while supporting a local F&B business.
• Website maintenance costs – Full disclosure, we have, in the past year, moved out of Squarespace to a much more cost-efficient platform Carrd, and are now hosting our domain via GoDaddy. Hence, our annual costs have gone from hundreds to $50-60, and this is much less a concern.

If we manage to break even, all profits from the zine will be channelled to funding the next issue, workshop or event by Mahogany Journal in 2026 and beyond.

Buying our zine – ticketing explained

The pre-order price of our zine will be S$28, and it will include the exclusive Manifest sticker sheet. If one were to purchase a bundle of two zines, the price will be S$55, with a slight discount of 50 cents per zine.

Please note that pre-orders will run from 1 January 2026 to 18 January 2026, following which Tier 2 and Tier 3 options will no longer be available. In addition, all zines must be collected in person.

Here are three ways to obtain the zine:

• You can purchase a ticket to the launch & buy at the venue
  Tier 1 (1 launch ticket) S$10
  However, please note that the zine wil be sold at the venue at S$32, and will not come with the sticker sheet.
  
• You can purchase a ticket to the launch & pre-order the zine
  Tier 2 (1 launch ticket,1 x zine pre-order, 1 x sticker sheet) S$38
  Tier 3 (1 launch ticket, 2 x zine pre-order, 2 x sticker sheet) S$65
  We strongly recommend this option!
  
• You can pre-order the zine but collect it after the launch
  Please refer to our Google Form here if you would like to pre-order the zine without attending the launch (S$28 for 1; S$55 for 2). The collection points and times are currently limited to:
  31 January Saturday dal.komm coffee @ Funan 2-6PM
  7 February Saturday Coffeesmith @ Westgate 2-6PM

Attending the launch

The launch will be taking place at the second floor of Monk's Brew Club. The nearest MRT station is Marine Parade (TEL). When you arrive, please walk through the cafe and access the launch space via the staircase.

Please take note that there is no lift available at the venue.