Sister Vision Press was a Canadian

small press A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. Independent press is general ...

publisher that operated from 1985 to 2001, and was the first press in Canada whose mission was to publish writing by and for

women of colour The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...

History

In 1985, writer

Makeda Silvera Makeda Silvera (born 1955 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican Canadian novelist and short story writer. Biography Silvera emigrated to Canada at the age of 12 with her family, and currently lives in Toronto, Ontario. She published two volumes of s ...

and her partner, visual artist Stephanie Martin, co-founded Sister Vision Press with Martin as the production manager and Silvera as the

managing editor A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication. United States In the United States, a managing edito ...

. Silvera had struggled to have her book ''Silenced: Caribbean Domestic Workers Talk With Makeda Silvera'' published by both mainstream and alternative publishers, such as Women's Press (Toronto), on the basis that the language was inaccessible and too difficult to understand, and that there was no market for such a book. (The book was eventually published by Williams-Wallace Publishers in 1986, and Sister Vision Press obtained the rights in 1989.) This rejection fueled Silvera and Martin's commitment to starting their own press "for Black women and women of colour, one that addressed working-class issues and concerns, that addressed sexuality and language with an emphasis on Creole." Obstacles included having little to no funding, a lack of public support and awareness for a publishing company for women of colour, and hesitation from the black literary community to stand behind a black lesbian couple. Some of their inspirations were Marie Joseph Angelique, a Montreal slave who spearheaded the first rebellion against slavery in Canada, and

Mary Ann Shadd Mary Ann Camberton Shadd Cary (October 9, 1823 – June 5, 1893) was an American-Canadian anti-slavery activist, journalist, publisher, teacher, and lawyer. She was the first black woman publisher in North America and the first woman publisher i ...

, the first Canadian female editor and publisher of ''The Provincial Freeman'', "one of Canada's earliest Black newspapers" in the 1850s. Silvera and Martin's goals through the Sister Vision Press were to bring awareness about the links "between women and colour in Canada and in the Caribbean and Third World women the world over".

Editorial focus

Sister Vision Press focused on works that included oral histories of "ordinary women often omitted from traditional history and contemporary writing", books for children and young adults, and lastly works of theory and research that "oppose the negation of women of colour's voices in Canadian feminist theory and movements". Much of their success was in publishing anthologies like ''Piece of My Heart: A Lesbian of Colour Anthology'', which was a finalist in the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

Gay and Lesbian Book Award for 1992. ''Memories Have Tongue'', a 1992 book by

Afua Cooper Afua Cooper (born 8 November 1957) is a Jamaican-born Canadian historian. In 2018 she is an associate professor of sociology at Dalhousie University. She is an author and dub poet. As of 2018 she has published five volumes of poetry.

, was one of the finalists in the 1992 Casa de las Americas literary award. After its establishment, Sister Vision Press collaborated with feminist women's organizations in the Caribbean, Britain, Southern Africa, India and North America. One of these partnerships was with CAFRA (

Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action The Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA) is a nongovernmental organization that advocates for women's rights and empowerment in the Caribbean. The regional network, which serves as an umbrella organization for progressive ...

) of Trinidad and Tobago and it resulted in the publishing of ''Creation Fire: A CAFRA Anthology of Caribbean Women Poets (1990)'', edited by

Ramabai Espinet Ramabai Espinet (born 1948) is an Indo-Trinidadian poet, novelist, essayist, and critic from Trinidad and Tobago. Espinet was born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago. She attended York University in Toronto, Canada before earning a Ph.D. at the U ...

. Silvera also sought out other writers, noting "A lot of writers that we encountered just didn't have the confidence to put out their work or to see their names in print. As the managing editor, I took on the role of mentoring many writers, particularly first-timers, through community centres, through word of mouth, and by offering workshops."

Partial list of books published

* ''Speshal rikwes oems in Dialect',

Ahdri Zhina Mandiela Ahdri Zhina Mandiela (born May 10, 1953) is a Toronto-based dub poet, theatre producer, and artistic director. She has gained worldwide acclaim for her books, music recordings, film, theatre and dance productions.

(1985) * ''Lionheart Gal: Life Stories of Jamaican Women'', ed. Sistren Theatre Collective and

Honor Ford-Smith Honor Maria Ford-Smith (born 1951 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Jamaican actress, playwright, scholar, and poet. The daughter of a brown Jamaican mother and an English father, Ford-Smith is sometimes described as "Jamaica white," signalling a person ...

(1986) * ''Blaze a Fire: Significant Contributions of Caribbean Women'', ed. Nesha Hanif (1988) * ''Creation Fire: A CAFRA Anthology of Caribbean Women Poets'', ed. Ramabai Espinet (1990) * ''Piece of My Heart: A Lesbian of Colour Anthology'', ed. Makeda Silvera (1991) * ''Memories Have Tongue'',

(1992) * ''Returning the Gaze : Essays on Racism, Feminism and Politics'', ed.

Himani Bannerji Himani Bannerji (born 1942) is a Canadian writer, sociologist, scholar, and philosopher from Kolkata, West Bengal, India. She teaches in the Department of Sociology, the Graduate Programme in Social and Political Thought, and the Graduate Pro ...

(1993) * ''Ladies of the Night and Other Stories'',

Althea Prince Althea Prince (born 1945) is a Black Canadian author, editor and professor. Her novels and non-fiction essays are known for exploring themes of love, identity, the impact of migration, and finding a sense of belonging in Canada. She is the sister ...

(1993) * ''Miscegenation Blues: Voices of Mixed Race Women'', ed. Carol Camper (1994) * ''The Very Inside: An Anthology of Writings by Asian and Pacific Island Lesbians and Bisexual Women'', ed. Sharon Lim-Hing (1994) * ''Onkwehonwe-neha: "Our Ways"'', Sylvia Maracle (1994) * ''Dread Culture : A Rastawoman's Story'', Masanie Montague (1994) * ''Black Girl Talk'', ed. the Black Girls (1995)

References

{{reflist Book publishing companies of Canada Feminist book publishing companies