Dame Carmen Callil obituary

Publisher who founded Virago, which champions women’s writing and books on feminist topicsThe idea for the feminist publishing company Virago came to Carmen Callil, who has died aged 84, “like the switching on of a lightbulb”. Since the revelation occurred during drinks to mark the first issue of the feminist magazine Spare Rib in 1972, her first inclination was to call it Spare Rib Books. Then she and the journalist Rosie Boycott chanced on the word virago – a heroic, warlike woman – in a book about goddesses. The resulting venture radically expanded the published range of writing by women and transformed the role of women in publishing itself.Virago aimed to provide a mass-market publisher for 52% of the population – women – at a time when they were permitted neither mortgages nor bank loans. Marsha Rowe, a co-founder of Spare Rib, had explained the ideas of the “very serious American feminists” of the 60s to Callil, the magazine’s publicist, whose own feminism had been learned at her mother’s knee. “I never had any time for the bra-burning Daily Mail nonsense because it didn’t include men … The number of men who helped me get Virago off the ground is legion.” Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2022-10-18 13:15:32 UTC ]

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Dame Carmen Callil obituary

Publisher who founded Virago, which champions women’s writing and books on feminist topicsThe idea for the feminist publishing company Virago came to Carmen Callil, who has died aged 84, “like the switching on of a lightbulb”. Since the revelation occurred during drinks to mark the first issue... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-10-18 13:15:32 UTC ]
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Carmen Callil, pioneering champion of female writers, dies aged 84

Publisher who founded Virago Press began as a campaigning outsider who introduced UK readers to authors including Angela Carter and Margaret AtwoodCarmen Callil, the publisher and writer who championed female writers and transformed the canon of English literature, has died of leukemia in London... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-10-18 09:09:25 UTC ]
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How books by women changed the world

The feminist publishing company Virago Press was set up by Carmen Callil in the 1970s Continue reading at BBC World

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Lord Evans of Temple Guiting obituary

Publisher who turned Faber & Faber into a champion of the best contemporary writingMatthew Evans, who has died aged 74 from leukaemia, was a great publisher who also happened to play a decisive role in the making of the musical Cats. He transformed Faber & Faber from the Vatican of... Continue reading at The Guardian

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