Credit: Alvaro Goveia/Library and Archives Canada

Sister Vision Press was co-founded by Makeda Silvera and Stephanie Martin. In describing the significance of the name Silvera notes: “We looked close to home for a name, in other words, at who we were—two sistas—two feminists with a vision. And so, the Press was named Sister Vision” (2022, 327). The founding of Sister Vision was a radical intervention in Canadian publishing.Writings by and about Black women, Indigenous women and women of colour were significantly underrepresented and there existed numerous institutional roadblocks to publishing these works. Sister Vision would also become an important space for publishing lesbian and queer writing. It offered a nexus for works articulating intersectional social concerns.

The books published by Sister Vision were memorable not just for their important content; they also engaged rich and radical experimentations in style. As Silvera puts it, the aim was to “produce provocative, challenging, and risk-taking books by and for Black women, Indigenous women, Asian women and women of mixed heritage” (327).Sister Vision Press folded in 2001, however its legacy is enduring. While they were located in Canada, the reach and influence of the Press was transnational. They published writers and writing from the Caribbean, the US, South America and the Pacific.This symposium marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of Sister Vision Press. We bring together writers and scholars to reflect on the books, conversations and interventions that Sister Vision made possible as well as commemorate the trailblazing work of Canada’s first Black women and women of color Press.

Credit: Rise Up! Feminist Archive