These books published over a 25-year period demonstrate the achievements of The Women's Press (1977-2003): a small publisher based in London with global reach, radical in the innovation of its commissioning, the courage of its writers, its intersectional politics, and the energy of its brand identity and marketing. Many key writers, including Alice Walker, May Sarton and Lucy Goodison, stayed with the Press for decades. Doris Lessing said of it in 1998: "I admire The Women's Press which has consistently taken risks and been enterprising and brave."
This is a partial list of significant publications by The Women's Press.
Sexual/Race/Peace Politics Title Author Year Notes Ref About Men Phyllis Chesler 1979 Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism Mary Daly 1979 The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution Shulamith Firestone 1980 Learning to Lose: Sexism and Education Dale Spender & Elizabeth Sarah (eds.) 1980 The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male Janice Raymond 1980 Pornography: Men Possessing Women Andrea Dworkin 1981 Pornography and Silence Susan Griffin 1981 Feminist Theorists: Three Centuries of Women's Intellectual Traditions Dale Spender editor 1983 Right-Wing Women: The Politics of Domesticated Females Andrea Dworkin 1983 Reclaim the Earth: Women Speak Out for Life on Earth Leonie Caldecott & Stephanie Leland (eds.) 1983 Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her Susan Griffin 1984 Greenham Common: Women at the Wire Barbara Harford & Sarah Hopkins (eds.) 1984 Call Me Woman Ellen Kuzwayo 1985 Preface by Nadine Gordimer, Foreword by Bessie Head No Immediate Danger: Prognosis for a Radioactive Earth Rosalie Bertell 1985 For the Record: The Making and Meaning of Feminist Knowledge Dale Spender 1985 Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love Between Women from the Renaissance to the Present Lillian Faderman 1985 The Rocking of the Cradle and the Ruling of the World Dorothy Dinnerstein 1987 Desperate Spring: Lives of Algerian Women Fettouma Touati 1987 Translated by Ros Schwartz The Rocking of the Cradle and the Ruling of the World Dorothy Dinnerstein 1987 New introduction by Vivien Bar Moroccan Women Speak Fatima Mernissi 1988 Translated by Mary Jo Lakeland Rape of the Wild Andrée Collard with Joyce Contrucci 1988 Foreword by Mary Daly Olive Schreiner: A Biography Ruth First and Ann Scott 1989 Maternal Thinking: Towards a Politics of Peace Sara Ruddick 1990 Sit Down and Listen: Stories from South Africa Ellen Kuzwayo 1990 Angela Davis: An Autobiography Angela Davis 1990 Invisible Women: The Schooling Scandal Dale Spender 1989 Women, Culture and Politics Angela Davis 1990 Anticlimax: A Feminist Perspective on the Sexual Revolution Sheila Jeffreys 1990 To My Children's Children: A South African Autobiography Sindiwe Magona 1991 Living, Loving and Lying Awake at Night Sindiwe Magona 1992 New Age and Armageddon: The Goddess or the Gurus? Towards a Feminist Vision of the Future Monica Sjöö 1992 Diana, Princess of Wales: How Sexual Politics Shook the Monarchy Beatrix Campbell 1998 Beyond Sex and Romance? The Politics of Contemporary Lesbian Fiction Elaine Hutton (ed.) 1998 Overloaded: Popular Culture and the Future of Feminism Imelda Whelehan 2000 Planet Earth: The Latest Weapon of War Rosalie Bertell 2002
Cultural/Literary/Art Studies Title Author Year Notes Ref Aurora Leigh and Other Poems Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1978 Introduced by Cora Kaplan The Awakening Kate Chopin 1978 Introduced by Helen Taylor Women Artists: Recognition and Reappraisals from the Early Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century Karen Petersen and J. J. Wilson 1978 Literary Women Ellen Moers 1978 Working Women Artists Calendar 1979, 1980, 1981 The World Split Open: Women Poets 1552-1950 Edited and Introduced by Louise Bernikow 1979 Women & Writing Virginia Woolf 1979 Introduced by Michèle Barrett The Opoponax Monique Wittig 1979 Les Guérillères Monique Wittig 1979 Break of Day Colette 1979 Paula Modersohn-Becker: Her Life and Work Gillian Perry 1979 Portraits Kate Chopin 1979 Short Stories Selected & Introduced by Helen Taylor Alberta & Jacob Cora Sandel 1980 Alberta and Freedom Cora Sandel 1980 Alberta Alone Cora Sandel 1980 A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories Flannery O’Connor 1980 Introduced by Lisa Alther The Charlotte Perkins Gilman Reader: ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and Other Fiction Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1981 Edited and Introduced by Ann J. Lane The Dragon's Village: An Autobiographical Novel of Revolutionary China Yuan-tsung Chen 1981 Rediscovery: 300 Years of Stories By and About Women Betzy Dinesen editor 1981 The Handbook of Non-Sexist Writing for Writers, Editors & Speakers Casey Miller & Kate Swift 1981 Revised British Edition, Stephanie Dowrick (ed.) Through the Flower: My Struggle as a Woman Artist Judy Chicago 1982 The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine Rozsika Parker 1983 In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose Alice Walker 1984 How to Suppress Women's Writing Joanna Russ 1984 No Holds Barred: The Raving Beauties Choose New Poems by Women The Raving Beauties (Sue Mayo, Angela Barlow, and Frances Viner) 1985) Feminist Aesthetics Gisela Ecker (ed.) 1985 Hypatia's Heritage: A History of Women in Science Margaret Alice 1986 Fat Like the Sun Anna Swir 1986 The Evening Star: Recollections Colette 1987 Introduction by Alison Hennegan Victorian Women Artists Pamela Gerrish Nunn 1987 Stealing the Language: The Emergence of Women's Poetry in America Alicia Suskin Ostriker 1987 Glancing Fires: An Investigation Into Women's Creativity Lesley Saunders editor 1987 Out of Focus: Writing on Women and the Media Kath Davies, Julienne Dickey & Teresa Stratford (eds) 1987 Dear Girl: The diaries and letters of two working women (1897-1917) Tierl Thompson (ed.) 1987 Living By the Word: Selected Writings 1973-1987 Alice Walker 1988 The Female Gaze: Women as Viewers of Popular Culture Lorraine Gamman & Margaret Marshment (eds.) 1988 Writing a Woman's Life Carolyn G. Heilbrun 1989 Gender and Genius: Towards a New Feminist Aesthetics Christine Battersby 1989 Delighting the Heart: A Notebook by Women Writers Susan Sellers (ed.) 1989 A Mountainous Journey: A Poet's Autobiography Fadwa Tuqan 1990 Translated from the Arabic by Olive Kenny, Introduction by Dr Salma Jayyusi Potters and Paintresses: Women Designers in the Pottery Industry 1870-1955 Cheryl Buckley 1990 Hamlet's Mother and Other Women: Feminist Essays on Literature Carolyn G Heilbrun 1991 Taking Reality by Surprise: Writing for Pleasure and Publication Susan Sellers (ed.) 1991 Her Blue Body Everything We Know: Earthling Poems 1965-1990 Complete Alice Walker 1991 Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This: My Life in the Jazz World Val Wilmer 1991 What Lesbians Do in Books: Essays on Lesbian Sensibilities in Literature Elaine Hobby & Chris White (eds.) 1991 A Journey into the Red Eye: The Poetry of Sylvia Plath – A Critique Janice Markey 1993 Emily Brontë: Heretic Stevie Davies 1994 The Complete Stories Alice Walker 1995 The Orchard Drusilla Modjeska 1995 May Sarton: Selected Letters 1916-1954 May Sarton 1997 Edited and Introduced by Susan Sherman After the Stroke May Sarton 1997 The Bridge of Years May Sarton 1997 Deep Sightings and Rescue Missions Toni Cade Bambara 1997 Anything We Love Can Be Saved: A Writer's Activism Alice Walker 1997 Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood bell hooks 1997 The Same River Twice: Honoring the Difficult Alice Walker 1998 Wounds of Passion: A Writing Life bell hooks 1998 Bittersweet: Contemporary Black Women's Poetry Karen McCarthy (ed.) 1998 Ms-Directing Shakespeare: Women Direct Shakespeare Elizabeth Schafer 1998 Cecilia Bartoli: The Passion of Song Kim Chernin with Renate Stendhal 1998 Unbridled Spirits: Women of the English Revolution 1640-1660 Stevie Davies 1998 Remembered Rapture: The Writer at Work bell hooks 1999 A Career in Crime: Inside Information from Leading Women Writers Helen Windrath (ed.) 1999 All About Love: New Visions bell hooks 2000 The Janet Frame Reader Carole Ferrier (ed.) 2000 Salvation: Black People and Love bell hooks 2001 Carson McCullers: A Life Josyane Savigneau 2001
Psychology/Mental health/Wellbeing
Title Author Year Notes Ref Female Cycles Paula Weideger 1979 Why Children? Stephanie Dowrick & Sibyl Grundberg (eds.) 1980 The Moon and the Virgin: Reflections on the Archetypal Feminine Nor Hall 1980 Other Mothers’ Daughters Judith Arcana 1981 In Our Own Hands: A Book of Self-Help Therapy Sheila Ernst and Lucy Goodison 1981 Flowers of Emptiness Sally Belfrage 1981 The Words to Say It Marie Cardinal 1981 Translated by Pat Goodheart Lone Thoughts from a Broad Paula Youens 1981 Womansize: The Tyranny of Slenderness Kim Chernin 1983 Sex and Love: New Thoughts on Old Contradictions Sue Cartledge and Joanna Ryan (eds.) 1983 Every Mother's Son: The Role of Mothers in the Making of Men Judith Arcana 1983 Living with the Sphinx: Papers from the Women's Therapy Centre Sheila Ernst & Marie Maguire (eds.) 1987 The Knot of Time: Astrology and the Female Experience Lindsay River and Sally Gillespie 1987 The Mother Machine Gena Corea 1987 Reproductive Technologies from Artificial Insemination to Artificial Wombs Beauty Secrets: Women and the Politics of Appearance Wendy Chapkis 1988 Moving Heaven and Earth: Sexuality, Spirituality and Social Change Lucy Goodison 1990 Devotion and Disorder: A Story of Addiction, Obsession and Maternal Love Marie Cardinal 1991 Translated by Karin Montin Past Due: A Story of Disability, Pregnancy and Birth Anne Finger 1991 Pride Against Prejudice: Transforming Attitudes to Disability Jenny Morris 1991 Generation Games: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Our Lives Pat Spallone 1991 As Far As the Eye Can Sing Frankie Armstrong with Jenny Pearson 1992 An autobiography of Frankie Armstrong Intimacy & Solitude: Balancing Closeness and Independence Stephanie Dowrick 1992 The Intimacy & Solitude Self-Therapy Book Stephanie Dowrick 1993 Women Healers Through History Elizabeth Brooke 1993 The Dreams of Women: Exploring and Interpreting Women's Dreams Lucy Goodison 1995 Forgiveness & Other Acts of Love: Finding True Value in Your Life Stephanie Dowrick 1998 Well-Tuned Women: Growing Strong Through Voicework Frankie Armstrong and Jenny Pearson (eds.), 2000
Fiction/Memoir