Anna Anthropy, author of Rise of the Videogame Zinesters speaking at Modern Times Bookstore March 8, 2012

Rise of the Videogame Zinesters serves as a call to arms for anyone who's ever dreamed of making their own games. Anna’s guide to game design encourages budding designers to bring their unique backgrounds and experiences to their creations and widen the playing field of an industry that has for too long catered to an adolescent male consumer base.

Part critical essay, part manifesto, part DIY guide, and altogether unprecedented, Anna Anthropy's Rise of the Videogame Zinesters: How Freaks, Normals, Amateurs, Artists, Dreamers, Drop-Outs, Queers, Housewives, and People Like You are Taking Back an Art Form (Seven Stories Press, March 6, 2012) shows why the multi-billion dollar videogame industry needs to change—and how a new generation of artists can change it. As a passionate activist for women, queers, and everyone excluded from the in-group of the male-dominated game industry, Anna makes an ardent plea for the industry to move beyond the corporate systems of production and misogynistic culture and to support games that represent a wider variety of human experiences.

Anthropy is a freelance scratchware videogame creator and critic. She is a former editor of The Gamer's Quarter, described by designer and critic Greg Costikyan as "the closest thing the game industry has to a journal of serious critique."

If you would like to arrange an interview with Anna Anthropy or see an advanced copy of Rise of the Videogame Zinesters, please contact [email protected].