The Feminist Press

The Feminist Press, formally known as The Feminist Press at CUNY, is an American independent nonprofit literary publisher based in New York City and affiliated with the City University of New York. Founded in 1970 by educator and feminist scholar Florence Howe, the press was created to challenge the absence and distortion of women’s experiences in books, school curricula, libraries, and mainstream publishing. Its program has combined literary publishing with an educational and activist mission, emphasizing freedom of expression, equality, social justice, and the recovery of writing neglected because of gender, race, class, sexuality, nationality, or political perspective. The press emerged from the women-in-print movement of the early 1970s, when feminist periodicals, bookstores, and publishing projects sought to create independent communications networks. Howe had been developing materials for teaching women’s studies and found that established publishers were unwilling to produce the feminist biographies and curricular texts she wanted. With financial assistance from the Baltimore Women’s Liberation group, the press held its founding meeting in Howe’s home on November 17, 1970. Its first publication was Barbara Danish’s children’s book The Dragon and the Doctor in 1971, followed later that year by a biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. A defining early strategy was the recovery of literary works by women that had fallen out of print or been excluded from standard literary histories. The press published Rebecca Harding Davis’s Life in the Iron Mills in 1972, followed in 1973 by Agnes Smedley’s Daughter of Earth and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper. These editions helped return historically important texts to classrooms and general readers; both Davis’s novella and Gilman’s story later appeared in influential American literature teaching collections. The press also issued feminist biographies, writing by authors from diverse racial and class backgrounds, and nonsexist books for children. Education has remained central to the organization’s identity. In the 1970s it supplied bibliographies, directories, newsletters, and other resources for the developing field of women’s studies. Its Clearinghouse on Women’s Studies served as an important information source before the establishment of the National Women’s Studies Association. With support from philanthropic foundations, the press developed Women’s Lives/Women’s Work, a seven-year series of books and teaching guides designed to supplement conventional high-school English and social-studies textbooks. The series was produced with McGraw-Hill’s Webster Division and tested by teachers in schools across the United States. The organization became a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) in 1972. Its early workplace model sought shared governance: staff participated in board and committee work, publishing and policy decisions were made collectively, and paid employees received equal salaries. In 1985 the press moved to the CUNY Graduate Center campus while retaining an independent staff and board structure. Its institutional relationship with CUNY is reflected in its current name and New York base, but its publishing program remains oriented toward an international readership. In later decades, the press expanded its literary list to include contemporary fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children’s literature, feminist theory, works in translation, and writing by queer and trans authors. Amethyst Editions, launched in 2016 and curated by Michelle Tea, developed a dedicated program for experimental and genre-bending LGBTQ writing. The press has also published translated works from Europe, Latin America, Africa, and the Balkans, bringing authors and perspectives that have been underrepresented in English-language publishing to North American readers. The Feminist Press publishes WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly, a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal that began as the Women’s Studies Newsletter in 1972 and adopted its current title in 1981. The journal examines changing themes in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies through literary, historical, legal, psychoanalytic, queer, and other approaches. The press has additionally supported emerging writers through the Louise Meriwether First Book Prize, established with TAYO Literary Magazine for debut books by women and nonbinary authors of color. Leadership has included executive directors Jean Casella, Gloria Jacobs, Jennifer Baumgardner, Jamia Wilson, and Margot Atwell. Wilson, appointed in 2017, became the organization’s youngest executive director at that time and its first woman of color to hold the position. Atwell became executive director in 2022. The press received the National Book Critics Circle’s Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020, recognizing its long-term contribution to literary culture and independent publishing.

The Feminist Press was established in 1970 by Florence Howe after her efforts to develop feminist teaching materials encountered little interest from conventional publishers. Its founding formed part of the women-in-print movement, through which second-wave feminist activists built autonomous presses, journals, bookstores, and distribution networks. The first publication, Barbara Danish’s children’s book The Dragon and the Doctor, appeared in 1971, followed by feminist biographies and literary works intended for classroom use. The press’s early identity was shaped by the recovery of neglected writing by women. After Tillie Olsen brought Rebecca Harding Davis’s Life in the Iron Mills to Howe’s attention, the press published it in 1972 with interpretive material. It followed with Agnes Smedley’s Daughter of Earth and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper in 1973, helping make both works available to scholars, students, and general readers. Other early categories included biographies, reprints of women’s literature, and children’s books designed to avoid conventional sex stereotypes. In 1972 the press became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. During its early years at SUNY Old Westbury, it operated with substantial student participation and developed a collective workplace structure in which staff members served on the board and committees. The organization later received Rockefeller Foundation support for research on gender bias in secondary-school textbooks. Ford Foundation and Carnegie Corporation grants supported Women’s Lives/Women’s Work, a seven-year, twelve-volume educational project co-published with McGraw-Hill and evaluated by teachers nationwide. The press also contributed to the institutional development of women’s studies. Its Clearinghouse on Women’s Studies distributed information, bibliographies, directories, and related resources before the field acquired broader national infrastructure. Its journal began in 1972 as the Women’s Studies Newsletter and became Women’s Studies Quarterly in 1981. In 1985 the press moved to the CUNY Graduate Center campus in Manhattan while maintaining an independent publishing staff and board. From the 1990s onward, the list broadened beyond recovered classics and curricular works to include contemporary fiction, essays, memoir, poetry, scholarship, children’s literature, and writing in translation. The organization increasingly emphasized intersectional feminism and the publication of authors whose work addresses race, sexuality, migration, disability, class, and political power. In 2016 it introduced Amethyst Editions, a queer imprint curated by Michelle Tea. The press also established the Louise Meriwether First Book Prize with TAYO Literary Magazine to support debut books by women and nonbinary authors of color. Notable recent achievements include recognition for books such as Michelle Tea’s Against Memoir, Brontez Purnell’s Since I Laid My Burden Down, Ivelisse Rodriguez’s Love War Stories, and translated works by authors including Cristina Rivera Garza, Virginie Despentes, and Trifonia Melibea Obono. The organization received the National Book Critics Circle’s Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020. Its leadership has included Jean Casella, Gloria Jacobs, Jennifer Baumgardner, Jamia Wilson, and Margot Atwell, who became executive director in 2022.

• 2020

  Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award

  [1]Feminist Pressen.wikipedia.org

  The National Book Critics Circle honors the press’s long-term contribution to literary culture.

• 2016

  Amethyst Editions launches

  [1]Feminist Pressen.wikipedia.org

  A queer imprint curated by Michelle Tea expands the press’s contemporary LGBTQ publishing program.

• 1985

  Move to the CUNY Graduate Center

  [1]Feminist Pressen.wikipedia.org

  The press relocates to the CUNY Graduate Center campus in Manhattan while preserving independent governance.

• 1981

  Women’s Studies Quarterly adopts its title

  [1]Feminist Pressen.wikipedia.org

  The press’s women’s studies publication, originally launched as a newsletter, becomes Women’s Studies Quarterly.

• 1975

  Women’s Lives/Women’s Work begins

  [1]Feminist Pressen.wikipedia.org

  Foundation grants support a multi-year educational publishing project addressing omissions in secondary-school curricula.

• 1973

  Publication of feminist classics

  [1]Feminist Pressen.wikipedia.org

  The press issues Daughter of Earth and The Yellow Wallpaper, establishing a major recovery strand in its catalog.

• 1972

  Nonprofit status and literary recovery program

  [1]Feminist Pressen.wikipedia.org

  The organization gains 501(c)(3) status and publishes Rebecca Harding Davis’s Life in the Iron Mills.

• 1971

  First books appear

  [1]Feminist Pressen.wikipedia.org

  The press publishes The Dragon and the Doctor and a biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

• 1970

  The Feminist Press is founded

  [1]Feminist Pressen.wikipedia.org

  Florence Howe and collaborators establish the press in response to the shortage of feminist literary and educational materials.

An activist, intersectional, and academically engaged nonprofit publisher that combines literary discovery, feminist scholarship, social-justice publishing, and educational access. The press is distinguished by its recovery of overlooked women writers, support for marginalized and emerging authors, publication of translated literature, and connection to women’s and gender studies.

• Reprints · 1972

  Literary classics and rediscovered works

  The press restores and republishes writing by women and other historically overlooked authors. Early examples include Rebecca Harding Davis’s Life in the Iron Mills, Agnes Smedley’s Daughter of Earth, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper. These editions often provide introductions, afterwords, biographical context, or editorial framing that supports both classroom adoption and broader literary rediscovery.

• Books · 1970

  Contemporary feminist literature

  The contemporary list includes fiction, memoir, essays, poetry, and nonfiction by writers addressing gender, race, class, sexuality, migration, labor, and social power. The program favors distinctive literary voices and writing connected to activist or socially engaged perspectives rather than treating feminism as a narrow genre category.

• Queer imprint · 2016

  Amethyst Editions

  Launched in 2016 and curated by Michelle Tea, Amethyst Editions publishes emerging queer and LGBTQ writers. Its scope includes experimental and genre-bending work that explores queer life beyond conventional coming-out narratives and broadens literary conversations about American LGBTQ experience.

• Academic journal · 1972

  WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly

  WSQ is a biannual, peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal associated with the press and CUNY. It examines themed questions in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies through literary, historical, legal, psychoanalytic, queer, and other scholarly approaches.

• Educational series · 1975

  Women’s Lives/Women’s Work

  This twelve-book series and accompanying teaching guides was designed to supplement high-school English and social-studies textbooks. Topics included women’s work, legal equality, education, family, agriculture, racial history, sport, social change, and women in the arts. The materials were produced with McGraw-Hill’s Webster Division and tested by teachers.

• Literary prize · 2017

  Louise Meriwether First Book Prize

  Established with TAYO Literary Magazine, the prize supports debut books by women and nonbinary authors of color. Recipients have included YZ Chin, Claudia D. Hernández, and Melissa Valentine, helping the press identify and promote new literary voices.

• 2022

  Appointment of Margot AtwellOther

  Background

  Following successive leadership periods under Jean Casella, Gloria Jacobs, Jennifer Baumgardner, and Jamia Wilson, the press selected a new executive director.

  Action taken

  Margot Atwell, formerly associated with Kickstarter, was appointed executive director.

  Aftermath

  Atwell became the latest leader responsible for advancing the press’s nonprofit publishing and intersectional feminist mission.

  Source

• 2017

  Expansion of support for emerging authors of colorStrategy

  Background

  The press’s intersectional publishing mission increasingly emphasized new voices marginalized by mainstream literary institutions.

  Action taken

  It established the Louise Meriwether First Book Prize with TAYO Literary Magazine for debut books by women and nonbinary authors of color.

  Aftermath

  The prize created a recurring channel for discovering and recognizing first-time authors, beginning with YZ Chin’s award in 2017.

  Source

• 2016

  Launch of Amethyst EditionsProduct launch

  Background

  The press sought to deepen its commitment to queer and LGBTQ literature and to provide space for experimental writing that exceeded familiar publishing categories.

  Action taken

  It introduced Amethyst Editions under the curation of Michelle Tea.

  Aftermath

  The imprint added a distinct queer publishing identity to the wider Feminist Press list and produced critically recognized books.

  Source

1. 1Feminist Pressen.wikipedia.org
2. 2The Feminist Pressfeministpress.org