Overview

A Bookshop of One's Own is a fascinating slice of social history from the heart of the women's liberation movement, from a true feminist and lesbian icon.

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9798881806217

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Reviews

""To step into Silver Moon Bookshop was to walk into feminist book heaven. The shop's remarkable owners made their vision reality; now co-founder Jane Cholmeley gives us the backstory with irresistible humor and courageous perspective. It's a captivating history of independent bookselling, politics, and friendship. I loved it."" --Barbara Sjoholm, author of The Palace of the Snow Queen and co-founder of Seal Press ""It's easy to start a feminist bookstore - all it takes is vision, tenacity, solid comrades, an incredible amount of grit, some social skills, clear politics and an absolutely wicked sense of humor. Jane Cholmeley takes us behind Silver Moon's counter to show us why and how they did it. Even the financial chapters are fascinating. It could be an instruction manual for any activist with a big vision today."" --Carol Seajay, founder of Feminist Bookstore News ""Cholmeley's thorough and engaging book evokes the era, the politics, the mood and the challenges of the 1980's Women's Liberation Movement as filtered through one particular and memorable business which promised to put women's writing in readers' hands, and succeeded."" --Elsbeth Lindner, former managing director of The Women's Press ""Jane Cholmeley hooked me in the first paragraph: 'At the time we didn't think of legacy; we were much more concerned with survival and laughter.' Inadvertently, though, her engaging memoir/herstory enriches the understanding of the critical legacies of feminist/women's bookstores. This is an important contribution to creating a holistic view of the urgency, passion, hurdles, challenges, and joys faced in creating these spaces. For me, as a previous bookstore cultural worker and now archivist, there is much here that resonates with the experiences lived by many of us who worked long and hard to create feminist/Lesbian literary and community centers disguised as a bookselling enterprise. Again, to quote Cholmeley, 'Ignorance makes you brave.'"" --Mev Miller, Instigator/Lesbrarian of Wanderground Lesbian Archive/Library ""In this delightful account of London's Silver Moon bookshop, Jane Cholmeley, the shop's proprietor with Sue Butterworth, guides readers through the excitement, challenges, struggles, and triumphs of feminist bookselling. Richly documented, A Bookshop of One's Own combines Cholmeley's vivid accounts of shop life with illuminating data about bookselling to produce a tour de force. This is a book to treasure."" --Julie R. Enszer, editor and publisher, Sinister Wisdom

Author Information

Jane Cholmeley is a key figure in British feminism and books, the co-founder of Silver Moon Women's Bookshop, which became the largest of its kind in Europe. Silver Moon created a safe space for women and proudly made women's writing central and visible on the best bookselling street in the world. It quickly came to play a vital role in the second-wave feminist movement. Operating in a male-dominated space, the stop was often subject to threats of arson but maintained a safe space for customers, with community activism at its core. The bookshop frequently hosted writers such as Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, and Margaret Attwood. Sandi Toksvig nominated Jane Cholmeley as a Gay Icon in the National Portrait Gallery's exhibition of that name in 2009 and Jacqueline Wilson named Jane her feminist icon in Stylist, 2018.

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