Press Gang Publishers

Press Gang Publishing was a feminist printing and publishing collective active in Vancouver, BC, Canada, between the early 1970s and 2002.

The organization started off as a loose counter-cultural 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 [1]. The press was incorporated in Vancouver, 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 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 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.

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, censorship, and women in conflict with the mental health and criminal justice systems.

...
Wikipedia