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Virago

‘People still do not want women to succeed or be equal. While that is true, you need Virago’: 50 years of the warrior publisher | Books

It was the early 70s, and in a tiny flat above a synagogue in Chelsea, London, decorated with lime-green paint, red tiles and an alternative cover for Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch on the wall, a group of women sat talking around a dining table.The attic bedsit soon became the first office of the feminist publisher Virago, which turns 50 this month. It has published more than 4,000 titles and over 1,000 authors, including Sarah Waters, Pat Barker and Monica Ali, and brought the likes of Margaret Atwood and Maya…

Virago founder Carmen Callil was a powerhouse who changed the publishing world for the better | Books

More than 40 years ago when Carmen and I were working late in the first Virago office on Wardour Street I asked her why she founded the feminist publisher. She answered: “To change the world, darling, that’s why.” And by God, that’s exactly what she did.The idea came to her in 1972 and the press was initially registered as Spare Rib Books. By June 1973 Virago was officially a publishing company and I am utterly devastated that Carmen will not be with us next year to celebrate her brainchild’s 50th birthday. Famously not a…