Milan Women’s Bookstore

Since 1975, the Women’s Bookstore (Libreria delle Donne) has been a unique place in Milan that exclusively sells books written by women. At the time, the decision to open a bookstore for a sex “without writing and absent from history” was a “subversive” act that responded to the need to disseminate, discuss, and explore the “new” things women think and write, so that they might become a collective asset. Since then, the Milan Women’s Bookstore has been a physical and symbolic space where many women (and more recently, some men) meet to create an original laboratory of political practice.
Since the mid-1980s, the Bookstore has been one of the most significant points of reference for Italian and international feminism.
This monograph offers a historical reconstruction of its first 30 years and a reflection on the political relevance of the theory-practice of sexual difference, based on documents produced and collected by the Bookstore and the voices of some of the protagonists of this history, which is by no means over.

Chiara Martucci holds a PhD in “Political Studies” from the University of Milan and has collaborated for years with various public and private institutions on research and training projects regarding gender studies, equal opportunities, and the promotion and enhancement of women’s thought and knowledge. In 2001, together with five other young women, she founded the feminist collective “Sconvegno,” which edited the book Generazioni di donne a Sconvegno (Stripes, 2003). She is also the co-editor, along with Bianca Beccalli, of the volume Con voci diverse. Un confronto sul pensiero di Carol Gilligan (Baldini-Castoldi-Dalai, 2005).

This volume was produced with the contribution of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities.