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Bookshee was conceived in 1990 by artist Laura Dee Milnes at the ripe age of 4 1/2… 29 years later it proudly presents its first publication. From its modest origins as a “bookshop” on the windowsill of her mum’s front room, “stocking” only female authors, it has since grown into a DIY publishing project highlighting the work of women/wimmin/womxn who write.*
The first Bookshee publication brings together 21 artists, all of whom are part of a wider London-based network* who meet to discuss their work, with an emphasis on critique, support and facilitation. These artists are
Ana Benlloch, Anna Lytridou, Chloe Farrar, Chloe Windsor, Emily Whitebread, Helena Kate Whittingham, Jessa Mockridge, Jessica Worden, Katie Kelsey, Laura Malacart, Laura Dee Milnes, Luana Duvoisin, Lucy Boyle, Lucy Evetts, Meg Brain, Melo Boerner, Ruth Mair, Sarah Gavin, Selina Bonelli, Tess Charnley, Zoe Marden
An Invitation – onsale at Southwark Park Galleries, London.
Published in May 2019, An Invitation (2019) is a limited edition of 100. There are less than 30 copies left – if you would like to buy one for £4 plus P+P, or stock a few in your bookshop, email booksheebooks@gmail.com to arrange.
*any people who identify as women/wimmin/womxn, or as female/femxle, or as non-binary or gender fluid or basically as any or no or many gender(s) are welcome to ask about joining this writing network. The network and Bookshee don’t exist to be exclusive, but to give space and time to writers who want to explore their writing-as-art practice and to give more space and time to those who are often less listened to and less supported in their artistic development. Often, people who are inherently privileged by patriarchy due to their gender are given more platforms and are heard, seen, championed more in the art world (and elsewhere). This writing network and Bookshee exist to create more places for the rest of us. We welcome conversation about this and are always thinking about ways to make our language more inclusive, while keeping our integrity as a network of people who identify in many different ways, but who share a similar feeling of marginalisation, largely because we aren’t or don’t identify exclusively as male.
Laura Dee Milnes 