What gives a greater  insight into a city than its bookshops…? Clubs and bars have good nights and bad nights. Museums and galleries, however beautiful, often seem like islands, not part of a city- or on a crowded day, more like airports! But a bookshop – especially an independent/radical/left/lgbt/feminist one- tells you this is a city of open-minded readers… friendly folk!

This is the point where I lament that Dublin’s lesbian-run  Anthology Books closed in 2007. Physiotherapy or whatever is happening on the Meeting House Square site may be good for the  body, but that  bookshop with its eclectic stock, erudite staff and free events was excellent  for the fabric of the city itself. I felt proud that every tourist that who wandered in would fail to find that Little Book of Auld Blather and instead see books by Emma Donoghue, Michael Cunningham, Judith Butler, Jeanette Winterson; instead of fatuous photography books of the Emerald Isle they’d encounter Annie Liebovitz,  Robert Mapplethorpe, Del La Grace, Keith Harring…  and have their presumptions of  Catholic Oireland deftly usurped! And before Temple Bar was Temple Bar, there was WellRed Books,  a radical/feminist bookshop on Crow Street, which stocked all the UK feminist presses- Virago, Women’s Press, Onlywomen Press, and Irish feminist  publishers Attic Press, Arlen House and Spellbound feminist postcards- you could have your fill then pop in to the WellFed Vegetarian cafe and eat as many kidney beans and pasta bakes as you fancied!

So here’s what we found in New York’s Bluestocking Books,  a feminist bookshop nestled beside a vegan restaurant in East Village. Though only 10 years old, on first impression the shop seems  a little anachronistic- a throwback to 1970s and 1980s activism- plenty of A5 stapled-bound Marxist/gender politics pamphlets, button badges, and slogan tshirts on the wall.  A coffee dock with every flavour of herbal tea, but only organic fairly-traded soya milk on hand for the coffee… I’m not complaining! In another corner a collection of ‘alternative menstrual products’, reusable silicone devices, mooncups, sea sponges, these probably require a separate article on their merits or demerits- any takers?!

Anyhow… onto the books, and they stock a plentitude! The shop carries a very specific selection of fiction, plenty of  well-known  lgbt novels from The Well of Loneliness to Stone Butch Blues, recent books by  literary feminists like Margaret Atwood and Lorrie Moore (presumably they have a cohort of loyal customers who come here rather than Barnes and Noble for the more mainstream books- or let’s hope so, otherwise I’ve no idea how they make it work financially!). They carry a broad range of non-fiction – entire bays of sexual politics, violence against women,  health, ecology/sustainable living, vegan/vegetarian cookbooks.  In their own words:

We carry over 6000 titles on topics such as queer and gender studies, global capitalism, feminism, police and prisons, democracy studies, and black liberation. You can also find some good ‘ole smutty fiction. We also carry magazines, zines, journals, alternative menstrual products and other oddly hard-to-find good things.

Here’s a random sample of three books to give you a flavour of just how eclectic their stock is:

The Cunt Coloring Book by  lesbian artist/activist Tee Corinne (1943-2006)-first published in the mid 1970s is exactly what it says on the labia – I mean label!,  a book of 25 line drawings to celebrate female sexuality.. and to fling off any shame for a generation who referred to mysterious  vaginas as ‘down there’.  It’s more matter-of-fact than beautiful or erotic, but then I guess they need to be coloured in with great attention to the unique nature of each one… lesbian homework!

The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians – How to Stay Sane and Care for Yourself from Preconception Through Birth by Rachel Pepper seems full of useful information and advice, but the legal/rights chapter and other resources would obviously be very US-centred.

Lois Lenz, Lesbian Secretary a racy novel by Monica Nolan featuring  the eponymous  Lois Lenz, who was like any other wholesome, former cheerleader with a knack for office skills. According to the blurb: Her soul was pure. Her Desires were sinful. Her typing was impeccable.

Bluestockings don’t currently offer a mail order service, but if you find yourself in New York, go find the shop and shelter from the rain in the company of fine books and coffee for several hours…They also host lots of  free events - readings, launches, meetings. We missed a trans poetry slam the night before…

Bluestockings
Open Every Day
11am – 11pm

Can we have a bookshop like this in Dublin again soon please?