Microcosm Celebrates 25 Years! (Here are some of our favorite memories)

In the middle of a Cleveland winter in 1996, Joe Biel sat at a punk show with a milk crate full of zines and decided that he would turn it into something bigger—creating a publishing resource founded on punk and DIY values that would run parallel to the mainstream.

Twenty-five years and many ups and downs later, Microcosm is a fast-growing independent book publisher and distributor. We’re bigger than we used to be—by the end of 2021 we’ll have a staff of over 20 and warehouses in two cities—but we still hold to the values Joe started out with, of making books and publishing reflect the experiences of the real world rather than a narrow elite.

Joe and Elly sat down to reminisce about our favorite Microcosm memories over the years and decades. You can watch the video, or listen on our podcast.

Thank you, readers, for making it all worthwhile!