Joan Drury

Last updated

Joan Drury (2 February 1945 - 9 November 2020) was an American novelist, book publisher, book seller, and philanthropist. She owned Spinsters, Ink, a publishing company that focused on books by women, especially those identifying as lesbian. She was the author of a series of mystery novels featuring a lesbian protagonist, Tyler Jones, and owned and operated a bookshop, Drury Lane Books, in Grand Marais, Minnesota. Drury won several awards for her services to publishing as well as for her own writing, including a Lambda Literary Award. She was also a philanthropist who sponsored writers' retreats, and created the National Lesbian Writer’s Award.

Contents

Biography

Drury was born in Minneapolis in 1945, and her family owned a successful garbage-hauling business. Drury grew up in Richfield, Minnesota and worked in her family's business for several years. She married at the age of 18, had three children (Kelly, Kevin and Todd) and divorced in 1978. [1] Drury later went to the University of Minnesota and completed a degree in Women's Studies. [2] She died of kidney failure in Grand Marais on 9 November 2020. [3]

Career

Drury purchased a book publishing company from Sherry Thomas, 1992, named Spinsters Ink, which published feminist and lesbian writing. The press was initially based in San Francisco, but was moved first to Minneapolis and later to Duluth, Minnesota. Drury operated the press until 2001, when she sold it to Hovis Publishing in Denver. In 1994, she was given an award from the Lambda Literary Foundation for her contributions to publishing. [3] Spinsters Ink published several well-known authors including Val McDermid (Conferences are Murder), Maureen Brady (Give Me Your Good Ear), Ellen Frye (Amazon Story Bones), Susan Stinson (Fat Girl Dances with Rocks) and Sandra Butler. [4] [5] An obituary in Publishers' Weekly noted that Drury and Spinsters Ink "contributed greatly to feminist publishing and bookselling during a time of great change throughout the industry." [3] Spinsters Ink shut down in 2017, but has since reopened as an imprint of Bella Books. [6] [4] Writer Susan Stinson credits Drury's support as fundamental to her career, citing Drury's selection of her first two books for publication by Spinsters Ink. [7] In 2002, Drury opened a bookstore named Drury Lane Books in Grand Marais. [8] [9]

Drury wrote a trilogy of detective novels featuring a lesbian protagonist named Tyler Jones. [3] Her novel Silent Words was reissued by Clover Valley Press in 2009, and won the 1997 Minnesota Book Award. [3] [1]

Drury was also a philanthropist, and established and sponsored a writer's retreat on Minnesota's North Shore of Lake Superior from 1993 to 2007, which sponsored over six hundred woman to stay and write while it was operative, including Elana Dykewomon. To fund the retreat, Drury created Harmony Women’s Fund, which sponsored over 100 projects relating to women in the state of Minnesota. [3] [5] In 1991, Drury established the National Lesbian Writer’s Award, which was judged by Audre Lorde, Jewelle Gomez, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Sarah Schulman. Winners of the award include Dorothy Allison, Nikky Finney, JP Howard, Lisa Moore, and Achy Obejas. [5]

In an obituary published by Lambda Literary, Julie R. Enszer wrote that "Without women like Joan Drury, women willing to do work, invest resources, engage in capacious and multiple activities, and continue to press on all the while enjoying their labors, we would not have women’s book cultures." [5]

Related Research Articles

Judy Grahn is an American poet and author.

Dorothy Allison American writer (born 1949)

Dorothy Allison is an American writer from South Carolina whose writing focuses on class struggle, sexual abuse, child abuse, feminism and lesbianism. She is a self-identified lesbian femme. Allison has won a number of awards for her writing, including several Lambda Literary Awards. In 2014, Allison was elected to membership in the Fellowship of Southern Writers.

Lesléa Newman American author, editor, and feminist.

Lesléa Newman, born November 5, 1955 in Brooklyn, New York City, is an American author, editor, and feminist. Four of her young adult novels have been finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature, making her one of the most celebrated authors in the category.

Carolyn Gage American actor, writer and director

Carolyn Gage is an American playwright, actor, theatrical director and author. She has written nine books on lesbian theater and sixty-five plays, musicals, and one-woman shows. A lesbian feminist, her work emphasizes non-traditional roles for women and lesbian characters.

Katherine V. Forrest is a Canadian-born American writer, best known for her novels about lesbian police detective Kate Delafield. Her books have won and been finalists for Lambda Literary Award twelve times, as well as other awards. She has been referred to by some "a founding mother of lesbian fiction writing."

Naiad Press was an American publishing company, one of the first dedicated to lesbian literature. At its closing it was the oldest and largest lesbian/feminist publisher in the world.

Bella Books is a small press publisher of lesbian literature based in Tallahassee, Florida.

Ellen Hart is the award-winning mystery author of the Jane Lawless and Sophie Greenway series. Born in Maine, she was a professional chef for 14 years. Hart's mysteries include culinary elements similar to those of Diane Mott Davidson.

Firebrand Books is a publishing house established in 1984 by Nancy K. Bereano---a lesbian/feminist activist in Ithaca, NY. Karen Oosterhouse, publisher since 2003, describes Firebrand as "the independent publisher of record for feminist and lesbian fiction and nonfiction," championing "authors whose work has been marginalized: women of color, women coming out of poverty, transwomen, the genderqueer, and other underrepresented voices." It is among the many feminist and lesbian publishing houses that grew out of the Women's Press Movement; other presses of that period include Naiad Press, Persephone and Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.

Lesbian literature Subgenre of literature with lesbian themes

Lesbian literature is a subgenre of literature addressing lesbian themes. It includes poetry, plays, fiction addressing lesbian characters, and non-fiction about lesbian-interest topics.

Joan Larkin is an American poet and playwright. She was active in the small press lesbian feminist publishing explosion in the 1970s, co-founding the independent publishing company Out & Out Books. She is now in her fourth decade of teaching writing. The science fiction writer Donald Moffitt was her brother.

Minnie Bruce Pratt is an American poet, educator, activist and essayist. She retired in 2015 from her position as Professor of Writing and Women's Studies at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York where she was invited to help develop the university's first LGBT Study Program.

Aunt Lute Books

Aunt Lute Books is an American multicultural feminist press based in San Francisco, California. Its stated mission is to "publish literature by women whose voices have been traditionally under-represented in mainstream and small press publishing" and "distribute literature that expresses the true complexity of women’s lives and the possibilities for personal and social change." The publisher also seeks to work with and support first-time authors.

Founded in Upstate New York in 1978 by Maureen Brady and Judith McDaniel, Spinsters Ink is one of the oldest lesbian feminist publishers in the world. It is currently owned by publisher Linda Hill, who purchased the Spinsters Ink in 2005. Hill also owns Bella Books and Beanpole Books.

Elana Dykewomon was an American lesbian activist, author, editor, and teacher. She was a recipient of the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction.

Terry Wolverton American novelist, memoirist, poet, and editor (born 1954)

Terry Wolverton is an American novelist, memoirist, poet, and editor. Her book Insurgent Muse: Life and Art at the Woman's Building, a memoir published in 2002 by City Lights Books, was named one of the "Best Books of 2002" by the Los Angeles Times, and was the winner of the 2003 Publishing Triangle Judy Grahn Award, and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Her novel-in-poems Embers was a finalist for the PEN USA Litfest Poetry Award and the Lambda Literary Award.

Sarah Dreher was an American lesbian novelist and playwright, and best known for her award-winning lesbian mystery series featuring amateur sleuth Stoner McTavish.

Jeanne Córdova German writer

Jeanne Córdova was an American trailblazer of the lesbian and gay rights movement, founder of The Lesbian Tide, and a founder of the West Coast LGBT movement. Córdova was a second-wave feminist lesbian activist and proud butch.

Maureen Brady is an American writer, editor and educator. She is best known for her novels Ginger's Fire, Folly, and Give Me Your Good Ear. She currently lives and works in New York City and Woodstock, NY.

Barbara Wilson is the pen name of Barbara Sjoholm, an American writer, editor, publisher, and translator. She co-founded two publishing companies: Seal Press and Women in Translation Press. As Barbara Sjoholm, she is the author of memoir, essays, a biography, and travelogues, including The Pirate Queen: In Search of Grace O’Malley and Other Legendary Women of the Sea, which was a finalist for the PEN USA award in creative nonfiction. She is also a translator of fiction and nonfiction by Norwegian and Danish writers into English, and won the Columbia Translation Award and the American-Scandinavian Translation Award. As Barbara Wilson, she has written two mystery series and has won several awards for her mystery novels, including the British Crime Writers Association award and the Lambda Literary Award. She is known for her novel Gaudi Afternoon, which was made into a film directed by Susan Seidelman in 2001.

References

  1. 1 2 "Joan Drury, North Shore writer, publisher and bookstore owner, dies at 75". Twin Cities. 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  2. ↑ "In Memory of Joan Drury | Drury Lane Books". drurylanebooks.indielite.org. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kirch |, Claire. "Joan Drury, Author, Publisher, and Bookseller, Dies at 75". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  4. 1 2 Kirch |, Claire. "Spinsters Ink Closes". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Joan Drury was a Vital Force in Feminist Book Culture". Lambda Literary. 2020-11-29. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  6. ↑ "Spinsters Ink – Bella Books" . Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  7. ↑ "Remembering Writer and Publisher Joan Drury". Lambda Literary. 2020-11-13. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  8. ↑ Kirch |, Claire. "Bookseller of No Returns". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  9. ↑ Tribune, Kim Hyatt Star. "Joan Drury, a Minnesota literary and philanthropy leader, dies at 75". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.