Since 1970, Feminist Press has published books that ignite movements and social transformation. Florence Howe and a collective of women of diverse backgrounds, based around Goucher College in Maryland, founded a crucial publishing component of second wave feminism that continues today with the goal of lifting up insurgent and marginalized voices to build a world where everyone can recognize themselves in a book.
Feminist Press’s history began with the reprinting of feminist classics by Zora Neale Hurston and Charlotte Perkins Gilman and has continued with such publications as modern women’s studies books by Barbara Ehrenreich and Grace Paley; global feminist literature by best-selling authors Shahrnush Parsipur, Ruth Kluger, and Ama Ata Aidoo; North American writing of diverse race and class experience from the voices of Paule Marshall and Rahna Reiko Rizzuto; and contemporary feminist perspectives on equality and gender identity with Anita Hill, Justin Vivian Bond, and Ann Jones.
For ICA LA’s Bookshelf Residency, Feminist Press celebrates fifty-five years of publishing with an Annex Gallery project titled Timeline (November 22, 2025 – March 1, 2026) — a visual history that includes key publishing milestones and anniversaries from its founding in Maryland in 1970 to a speculated ideal future of 2070. The timeline features books and objects to present a journey through the press’s publishing program titles and its people; day to day work and communications; and the history of women and gender studies as a discipline.
Visitors will discover books by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, Paule Marshall, Zora Neale Hurston, Violette Leduc, Barbara Molinard, Shahrnush Parsipur, Paul B. Preciado, Julián Delgado Lopera, Brontez Purnell, Justin Vivian Bond, Louise Meriwether, Michelle Tea, Megan Milks, Ariel Gore, Terezka Torres, Valerie Taylor, Bishakh Som, and many more. Also on view are archive photos, documents, rare and foreign editions, and other artifacts from Feminist Press’s illustrious history and foundational work for the future.
For more information about Feminist Press, including on the most recent publications, please visit feministpress.org.