| Founded | 1980 |
|---|---|
| Defunct | 1994 |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters location | London |
| Publication types | Books |
Sheba Feminist Press was a UK publishing co-operative formed in 1980 by a group of seven women involved in the women's liberation movement. [1] Sheba was among a few small independent publishers to emerge out of the UK women's movement during the 1970s and early 1980s. [2] Unlike other companies of the era such as Virago and The Women's Press, Sheba was a workers' collective, operating as a political project that published activist works from the struggles of the women's movement, with a focus on publishing new writers and "ordinary, non-privileged women", and an emphasis on race and class. [3] [4]
Sheba has been described in The Financial Times as "one of the UK's most innovative and radical feminist publishers" and "unquestionably groundbreaking — it was the first to publish Audre Lorde in the UK, printed books about lesbian sexuality and erotica and provided a space for authors of colour such as Jackie Kay, Gail Lewis and Pratibha Parmar." [5]
Other writers published by Sheba included bell hooks, June Jordan, Jewelle Gomez, Joan Nestle, and Sarah Schulman, and among titles produced by the co-operative were the anthologies Through the Break: Women and Personal Struggle, Charting the Journey: Writings by Black and Third World Women, Girls are Powerful: Young Women's Writing from Spare Rib, Positively Women: Living with AIDS, and two volumes of Serious Pleasure: Lesbian Erotic Stories. [6] Another notable anthology, compiled by Sue O'Sullivan, was the 1987 feminist cookery book Turning the Tables: Recipes and Reflections from Women, contributors to which included Angela Carter, Julie Christie, Linda Bellos, Michelene Wandor, Val Wilmer, Zoe Fairbairns, Miriam Margoyles, and Catherine Hall, among others. [5] [7]
Sheba ceased trading in 1994. [1] Records of Sheba Feminist Press are held at the London School of Economics. [1]