Press Gang Publishing was a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

printing and publishing collective active in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada, between the early 1970s and 2002.Pike, Lois. "A Survey of Feminist Publishers and Periodicals in Canada" in ''Women and Words/Les Femmes et le Mots: Conference Proceedings'', Longspoon Press, p. 213.

Early history

The organization started off as a loose

counter-cultural A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...

printing collective of six women and men, but "tensions arose" between the members about the goals of the press and in 1974 it was reestablished as a women-only feminist and anti-capitalist collective. The press was incorporated in

, British Columbia, under the BC Companies Act as Press Gang Publishers Ltd. The collective operated a printshop (offset lithography, bindery) that served many progressive political, cultural, advocacy, and self-help organizations, as well as cooperative businesses in Vancouver. In 1975 Press Gang published its first title: ''Women Look at Psychiatry'', an anthology edited by

Dorothy E. Smith Dorothy Edith Smith (née Place; 6 July 1926 – 3 June 2022) was a British-born Canadian ethnographer, feminist studies scholar, sociologist, and writer with research interests in a variety of disciplines, including women's studies, feminist t ...

and Sara David. In 1974, the organization was located at 821 East Hastings Street. The press moved in 1978 to 603 Powell Street in the

Downtown Eastside The Downtown Eastside (DTES) is a neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. One of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, the DTES is the site of a complex set of social issues including disproportionately high levels of drug use, homele ...

neighbourhood of Vancouver. Members of the Press Gang collective trained themselves in the use of printing equipment and graphic design. They also participated in campaigns and community-based movements for social change: feminist, anti-capitalist, and anti-imperialist.

Policies

Press Gang had a policy of rejecting sexist or racist material for publication. For clients, it drew largely from local feminist, radicalist, activist and community groups. The organization took financial chances, and often printed material that mainstream publishers would not. As a feminist publisher, throughout its history Press Gang published books primarily, but not exclusively, by Canadian women authors and artists. Their nonfiction titles addressed social issues including racism, labour activism, lesbian identity,

lesbophobia Lesbophobia comprises various forms of prejudice and negativity towards lesbians as individuals, as couples, or as a social group. Based on the categories of sex, sexual orientation, identity, and gender expression, this negativity encompasse ...

, censorship, and women in conflict with the

mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental hea ...

and

criminal justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the Rehabilitation (penology), rehabilitation of o ...

systems.

Printing/publishing split

By 1982, Press Gang paid six full-time salaries. The printing part of the operation helped underwrite the activities of the publishing section.Pike, Lois. "Feminist Presses" from ''In the Feminine: Women and Words Conference Proceedings'', Warland et al., 1983, Longspoon Press, p. 214. In 1989, the organization formally and amicably split into two collectives, Press Gang Printers Ltd. (a unionized collective) and Press Gang Publishers Feminist Cooperative.

The end of Press Gang

In the later 1980s, facing changes in technology, the advent of the

Free Trade Agreement A free-trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating states. There are two types of trade agreements: bilateral and multilateral. Bilateral trade agreements occ ...

between Canada and the United States, and increasing competition from larger

corporate A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

printshops created insurmountable financial difficulties for the printing collective, and in 1993 Press Gang Printers was forced to cease operations. Press Gang Publishers continued activity, yet were also squeezed by structural changes to the Canadian publishing industry and an increasing harsh economic climate for Canadian book publishers in the later 1990s. In 2000, Press Gang Publishers formed an alliance with Polestar Publishers of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, British Columbia. Soon after this, Polestar was bought by

Raincoast Books Raincoast Books is a Canadian book distribution and wholesale company. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Raincoast was founded by Mark Stanton and Allan MacDougall in 1979 as a consignment wholesaler that shared overhead, warehouse space and ...

. In 2002 Press Gang Publishers were pushed to declare bankruptcy. Most of their titles remain unavailable.

Selected authors

Joanne Arnott Joanne Arnott (born 16 December 1960 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian writer. She has conducted writing workshops across much of Canada and in Australia, including a series at the Carnegie Centre, sponsored by SFU, and has written for the Lite ...

Shani Mootoo Shani Mootoo, writer, visual artist and video maker, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1957 to Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidadian parents. She grew up in Trinidad and relocated at the age of 19 to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She currently l ...

* Sheila Baxter * Persimmon Blackbridge * Chrystos * Ivan Coyote * Lynnette (Dueck) D'anna *

Elana Dykewomon Elana Dykewomon (; October 11, 1949 – August 7, 2022) was an American lesbian activist, author, editor, and teacher. She was a recipient of the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction. Early life and education Dykewomon was born Elana Mich ...

Karlene Faith Karlene Faith (1938 – 15 May 2017) was a Canadian writer, feminist, scholar, and human rights activist. She was a professor emerita at the Simon Fraser University School of Criminology. Early life and career Karlene Faith was born in Ayl ...

Sky Lee Sky Lee (born September 15, 1952 as Sharon Lee) is a Canadian artist and novelist. Lee has published both feminist fiction and non-fiction and identifies as lesbian. Personal life Lee was born September 15, 1952 in Port Alberni, British Columbia ...

Lee Maracle Bobbi Lee Maracle (born Marguerite Aline Carter; July 2, 1950November 11, 2021) was an Indigenous Canadian writer and academic of the Stó꞉lō nation. Born in North Vancouver, British Columbia, she left formal education after grade 8 to tr ...

Daphne Marlatt Daphne Marlatt, born Buckle, CM (born July 11, 1942 in Melbourne, Australia), is a Canadian poet and novelist who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. At a young age her family moved to Malaysia and at age nine they moved to British Columbia, ...

* Nancy Richler *

Cathy Stonehouse Cathy Stonehouse (born 1966) is a British-born poet and writer who has lived in Canada since 1988. Stonehouse grew up in Holmes Chapel, a village in the county of Cheshire in the North West of England. In 1988, having obtained a BA in English f ...

* Aren X. Tulchinsky *

Betsy Warland Betsy Warland (born 1946) is a Canadian feminist writer, and the author of a dozen books of poetry, creative nonfiction, and lyric prose. She is most widely known for her collection of essays, ''Breathing the Page: Reading the Act of Writing'' ...

* Rita Wong

References

External links

Collections Canada

Press Gang Publishers fonds 1975 – 2002
(archived at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby BC)
MemoryBC: The British Columbia Archival Information Network: Press Gang Publishers
{{Authority control Anti-racist organizations in Canada Defunct publishing companies of Canada Book publishing companies of Canada Feminism in British Columbia Feminist book publishing companies Feminist collectives Feminist organizations in Canada Lesbian culture in Canada Lesbian feminism LGBT history in Canada Political book publishing companies Publishing collectives Publishing companies established in 1970