Showing 15 results

Authority record
Black Womantalk Press
Corporate body · 1983-c.1990s

Black Womantalk was a publishing co-operative set up by a group of unemployed women of African and Asian descent, who - in their own words - 'felt strongly about creating the space and the means for our voices to be heard'. Black Womantalk primarily focused on organising events and readings led by Black women writers and women writers of colour, as well as publishing several poetry collections.

Members of the co-operative included Gabriela Pearse, Bernadine Evaristo, Olivette Cole Wilson, Da Choong, Sylvia Parker, and others.

BLK Publishing Co.
Corporate body · 1988-

BLK Publishing Co., Inc. was founded in 1988 to produce a series of company-owned magazines. They began offering graphic design as a separate service in 1994, and in the years that followed added other publishing-related services such as copy writing, editing, photography and print management. Primarily based in the US, BLK has developed strong working relations with nonprofits and healthcare organisations, particularly ones that advocate for racial equity and social justice causes.

Spare Rib
Corporate body · 1972-1993

Spare Rib was a second-wave feminist magazine and an active part of the emerging Women’s Liberation Movement in the late 20th century. Running from 1972-1993, this now iconic magazine challenged the stereotyping and exploitation of women, while supporting collective, realistic solutions to the hurdles women faced.

Big Flame
Corporate body · 1970-1984

Big Flame were a revolutionary socialist feminist organisation with a working class orientation in England. Founded in Liverpool in 1970, the group initially grew rapidly in the then prevailing climate on the left with branches appearing in a number of cities.

They published a magazine, also entitled Big Flame, and a journal, Revolutionary Socialism. Members were active at the Ford plants at Halewood and Dagenham. They also devoted a great deal of time to self-analysis and considering their relationship with the larger Trotskyist groups. In time, they came to describe their politics as “libertarian Marxist“. In 1978 they joined the Socialist Unity electoral coalition, with the International Marxist Group. In 1980, the anarchists of the Libertarian Communist Group joined Big Flame. The Revolutionary Marxist Current also joined at about this time.

Camden Women's Bus
Corporate body · 1983-late 1980s

Camden Women's Bus was a mobile women's information and resource centre, funded by the Greater London Council. The centre comprised a double-decker bus, chosen because it offered a means of connecting with women who were otherwise unable to attend in-person meetings because of socioeconomic, health, caring and lifestyle-related barriers. Its organisers (and drivers) were Louisa John-Baptiste, Anna Birch, and Juleikha [surname unknown].

City Limits
Corporate body · 1981-1993

City Limits was an alternative culture and event listings magazine for London, published weekly. It was founded by former Time Out staff writers as a co-operative, after TO owner Tony Elliott refused to adopt co-operative working principles. City Limits initially took a vocally radical feminist stance, though later investors tried to rebrand the title as a women's lifestyle magazine.

Shocking Pink!
Corporate body · 1981-1982; 1987-1992

Shocking Pink! was a zine written by and for young women, with an emphasis on topics like contraception, abortion, sexuality, lesbianism, queer issues, violence against women, feminist arts and culture, skill sharing (e.g. how to form a band, a women's group etc.), racism, women's rights, politics, and more.

London Women's Centre
Corporate body · c.1970s-c.2000

Based at Wesley House, 4 Wild Court, the London Women’s Centre was a thriving hub for women’s orgs for around three decades. The Centre was home to numerous women’s and feminist groups, including the National Abortion Campaign, Asian Women’s Network, Microsyster, English Collective of Prostitutes, Women’s Network for Palestine, Camden Women’s Bus, London Fat Women's Group, Lesbian Archive and Information Centre, Women's Information and Resource Exchange (WIRES), Women's Resource Centre, and many more.

From 1984-1996, the LWC housed Lesbian Archive & Information Centre, whose collections now live here at GWL. The Lesbian Archive makes up around one-third of our total archive holdings, and the LAIC library – up on the mezzanine level of our home in Bridgeton – comprises feminist and lesbian feminist literature, many of which titles are increasingly rare and hard to come by.

Facing increasing pressure from their main funder, Camden Council, to turn away from their explicitly feminist focus and instead become a more commercial venture, the LWC rebranded themselves as a music and events venue The Wheel in the mid 1990s. The rebrand was ultimately unsuccessful and Wesley House closed around 2000 (date unconfirmed).

Corporate body · 1988-2006

Women's Health was formed in 1988 as a merger between the Women's Reproductive Rights Information Centre (WRRIC) and Women's Health Information Centre (WHIC). The Women's Health Information Centre formed in 1982; Women's Health Information Centre was established in 1983 after a split from the National Abortion Campaign. At the time of the merger, the group was known as the Women's Health and Reproductive Rights Information Centre (WHRRIC), before changing its name to Women's Health.

The aim of the centre was to provide information and support to women on health and reproductive issues, motivated by the idea of information as a form of political empowerment. They worked with, and acted as a resource for, medical professionals, women in health groups, self-help groups, community groups and trade unions in line with the ethos of the Women's Liberation Movement. The centre collected resources relating to all areas of women's health, including books, leaflets, journals, press cuttings and articles. As well as providing an information service, the centre was politically active, and made submissions to the House of Commons Select Committee on AIDS, as well as acting as a point of contact for the media on women's health and reproductive issues.

Women's Health was based near Old Street and closed in 2006.

off our backs
Corporate body · 1970-2008

off our backs was a radical feminist print news journal by, for, and about women, published from 1970 to 2008. From 2008 onward OOB changed its remit, becoming a nonprofit organisation run by a collective where decisions are made by consensus.