Women in Shadow and Light
Women in Shadow and Light is this year's Independent Publisher Book Award winner in the category of Women's Issues. The book is about forty women — aged nineteen to ninety-five — who found the courage to triumph over trauma. Photographs combine with text to portray the essence of each woman’s journey from the violence of sexual and physical abuse to transformation and healing. Jan Goff-LaFontaine’s original photography exhibit, called Out of the Shadows, started in rural Door County, Wisconsin, but eventually led her to subjects across the nation as she sought to complete this book. Each woman helped create her own portrait as a personal symbol of healing, often focusing on one aspect of her body she felt was most affected in the healing process. Goff-LaFontaine says, "The women in this book offered me a precious gift: the opportunity to be a part of their healing. Each of these women has moved far beyond the role of victim to see in herself the strength and beauty that was always there. They are recreating themselves, and they implore society to take a closer look, to see what the meaning of beauty truly is." It is a book about reclaiming joy, not dwelling in the role of victim. There are those who feel that photographing women — some who have been sexually abused — in the nude is somehow exploitive; that nakedness equals sex, and therefore creates more, rather than less, shame. Goff-LaFontaine disagrees: “To begin with, the history of Art is filled with female nudes, arguably the most beautiful of all forms. Because they have been abused, these women have lost their sense of personal beauty. Often they dress in dowdy clothes to hide themselves from the world. I worked with each woman to create a sensitive fine art photograph that shows her re-emergence into her self-worth. This is not exploitation, it is a celebration of beauty and empowerment for these women.”
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The Outstanding, Independent Women of Publishing
Independent Publisher Book Awards ceremony honorees
As part of this year’s Tenth Anniversary celebration of the Independent Publisher Book Awards, sponsors Jenkins Group and Independent Publisher Online recognized the Ten Outstanding Women of Independent Publishing. The special presentation was part of the annual book awards ceremony held this year at the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington D.C., an appropriate setting for recognizing both the achievements of award-winning independent authors and publishers, and to commemorate the valuable contributions of women to the industry.
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“We need more books published by independent presses,” says Karin Taylor, director of the Small Press Center in New York City. “As the larger publishing conglomerates become increasingly conservative in the titles and authors they choose to publish, the role of the independent publisher become increasingly important in providing books that offer diversity and choice, as well as assisting emerging authors.”
“I’m proud to be part of the independent press movement, and showing the world that independent publishing and self publishing are vital, viable and ethical parts of American literature and publishing,” echoes Cynthia Frank of California-based publisher Cypress House.
These quotes sum up our mission of Independent Publisher Online and our annual “IPPY” Awards, and when we decided to hold this year’s awards ceremony at the National Museum for Women in the Arts we found it fitting to commemorate the valuable contributions of women to the independent publishing industry. Karin Taylor and Cynthia Frank are two of the Ten Outstanding Women of Independent Publishing we’ve chosen to honor, and their comments are typical of the heart-felt responses we got from the other honorees.
“Women bring balance to the world of ideas,” says Cynthia Black, who with husband and partner Richard Cohn runs the successful Beyond Words and the new Atria Books imprint at Simon & Schuster. “My experience is that women are generally more creative and visionary than men and see the possibility in something rather than the bottom line.”
Fiona McCrae of Graywolf Press agrees: “It's encouraging that so many women in publishing nowadays are in senior positions. Perhaps women can be more receptive to books that might at first seem ‘quiet,’ and perhaps have an intuitive sense of the ‘outsider's’ perspective.”
Pat Bell, another recipient from Minnesota, says women by nature are “creators.” “It’s built into us, whether the ‘creation’ be a child, a family, a book, a business, an organization,” she says.
Our third Minnesotan honoree, Judy Galbraith, former school teacher and founder of Free Spirit Publishing says that the rise of women in publishing reinforces the notion that a woman’s career options are limitless. “I think women contribute an openness to new opportunities that helps them find out more about themselves, their talents, and their interests, and this influences the decisions they make in publishing. I learned the importance of taking risks, of being responsible, and of developing strong relationships -— all of which are reflected in our books and how I view publishing. Women, in all areas of publishing, add a dynamic voice, unique perspective, leadership, and relevant ideas to the mix that is publishing today.”
Canadian recipient Judith Plant, co-owner of New Society Publishers, takes “relevant” ideas very seriously as her company publishes books to “Build a New Society.” They were the first North American publisher to use 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper, and also to become a “carbon neutral company,” reducing emissions and donating to tree planting and solar technology organizations in order to offset the high carbon contribution of book transportation.
“Increasingly, we now need to think about the overall environmental cost of producing hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of books a year,” says Plant. “Not only are we using paper, once living forest, but once manufactured these books are then transported, using increasingly precious fossil fuel, from printer to warehouse and then on to bookstore. Adding to this, as any publisher knows, is the reality of returns - another trip for the book! I believe that our industry, like many, if not already, will soon be challenged to ‘think outside the box’ to reduce the ecological footprint of the book. But, made ethically, the book itself really can also show leadership!”
Barbara Meade of Politics & Prose bookstore, who along with co-owner/founder Carla Cohen is receiving an honorary award, put it into financial terms: “Women are important to the world of publishing because men, more than women, put their primary emphasis on the money, making it, divvying it up. I think women are more gifted at long-term thinking in which the financial returns may be smaller but the impact of the store in the community is much greater. The rewards are monetarily less but the continuing presence and accumulating readership of the store make for a different but important kind a contribution.”
According to Dominique Raccah of Chicago’s innovative Sourcebooks, it’s all about nurturing readers: “We need more readers. We need to continue aggressively working to expand readership of books, because books change lives.”
Cate Cummings of Cate Cummings Publicity and Promotion Group agrees: “Throughout time, women have been known as caregivers and storytellers – keeping traditions alive. We need publishers and distributors with alternative spiritual and healing books to be diligent and creative in getting their messages out to the public.”
“It’s our job to give life to the mysteries, visibility to the invisible, form to the world of ideas, values, hopes, and dreams,” adds Ellen Kleiner of Blessingway Authors’ Services and Ancient City Press in Santa Fe, NM. “Doing our jobs in the book industry, we can’t help but enhance its expressivity, breathing fresh life into it over and over again…collaboratively, which is women’s way.”
Book buying, after all, is a function dominated by women, so why not publishing?
“Eighty percent of all readers are women,” confirms Tami Simon of Boulder-based Sounds True. “We need women in publishing to create books that honor women's concerns and interests. In addition, in order to counteract the forces of materialism, aggression, and the out-of-control desire for accomplishment and personal territory, we need women to lead the way as educators and spokespeople for the values of interconnectedness, soft-heartedness, and power that relies on personal integrity instead of force. We need to keep publishing books that ask readers to both think critically and from a place of heart.”
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Here, in alphabetical order are the recipients of the Ten Outstanding Women of Independent Publishing awards: Cynthia Black, Beyond Words Publishing; Cate Cummings, Cate Cummings Publicity & Promotion Group; Cynthia Frank, Cypress House; Judy Galbraith, Free Spirit Publishing; Ellen Kleiner, Blessingway Authors’ Services; Fiona McCrae, Graywolf Press; Judith Plant, New Society Press; Dominique Raccah, SourceBooks; Tami Simon, Sounds True; Karin Taylor, Small Press Center. Honorary awards will also go to one long-time publishing leader and mentor Pat Bell of Cat’s-paw Press; and three veteran booksellers: Joyce Meskis of Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver, and Carla Cohen & Barbara Meade, co-founders of Politics & Prose bookstore in Washington D.C.
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Congratulations to all! Thank you for your immense contributions to publishing and to our society in general.