by Stephanie Martin

Presented at the MATCH Words of Women consultation held in December 1988, in Toronto.

Sister Vision Press is a Canadian feminist publisher whose priority is publishing books by black women and women of colour in Canada and the Caribbean. Sister Vision was created in the Summer of 1984, by Makeda Silvera and myself, because white Canadian feminists and progressive presses did not think black women and women of colour had anything to say or, that anyone was interested in hearing/reading what we had to say. White publishers were uninterested in even considering any work by black women. For example, in the first 15 years of their existence the Women's Press did not publish one black woman or woman of colour.

We wanted to develop a Press that would speak to this; that would dare to take risks, a press that would work with and develop writers in Canada who felt they had nothing to say, but whose very lives spoke volumes. We knew we did not want to separate activism from writing and publishing.

We chose to focus on women's oral history, creative writing and books for children and young people. We also challenge the absence of our voices in Canadian feminist theory and research. We provide a forum for theoretical works which would speak to and analyse the political and social lives of black and Third World women from a feminist perspective.

Many of us come from the Caribbean or have a direct connection through our parents. We, and the other women who joined us, wish to maintain those links with our sisters there, to learn from them about the current political and cultural movements and give support to their voice.

We have three published titles to our credit and one currently at press. Among these, Lionheart Gal was our first Caribbean book and Blaze A Fire which has gone to press is our second.

We are currently working on Creation Fire, an anthology of Caribbean women's poetry in collaboration with the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA).

We are a grassroots organization with few resources. We recognise that we have ventured into this publishing business at a time when conservatism is on the rise. The tide seems to be against us, the conservative sources of money continually repeat the refrain that there is no room for us and our kind of books. If we were a white women's publishing company in Canada we would have more than three titles because even in terms of small independent presses there is credibility in being white and female, credibility that we as a women of colour press do not have, except in our community.

Up until the summer of this year, before we entered into an arrangement with the Women' Press, we distributed our books often on foot and were met by less than enthusiastic responses from many bookstores — Sister Vision Who? It's hard work, but we are involved in the business for writing and publishing books because this kind of political action is important to us and our output is important to an enormous and, until very recently, overlooked community out there.

The philosophical challenge is great: to fulfill our mandate in an increasingly indifferent environment and to maintain our integrity in this niche we've created within the uninterested publishing world.

We are desperately in need of support from people like yourselves, with the courage to support a new and badly needed project, with the vision to appreciate the value of Sister Vision's role in producing an alternative literature. Our ambition to publish the work of our sisters in the Caribbean is particularly in need of this kind of support.

We look forward to partnerships with any individuals or organizations who are committed to providing forums for these voices to be heard. For more information, please contact:

Sister Vision, P.O. Box 217, Station E Toronto, Ontario M6H4E2 Canada