December 20th

Frequency Feminisms talked with Robyn Bourgeois, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Toronto Women’s Bookstore. The feminist, anti-oppression bookstore has come upon hard times on account of the economic downturn and internal/structural issues that may force it to close its doors after 36 years as a hub for feminist/anti-oppression activists, scholars and artists. Robyn talked with FF-WPR about the TWB’s mandate, mission, herstory, role in the community, present challenges, broader trends and challenges facing not-for-profit independent book-sellers, how listeners could help, vision for the future and evolving face of the TWB. FF-WPR talked about the ongoing work of including trans people, women with disabilities, poor women and women employed in the sex trade within the milieu of the TWB.

Contact:

Toronto Women’s Bookstore

73 Harbord Street

Toronto ON M5S 1G4

Phone: 416.922.8744

Toll Free (within Canada only): 1-800-861-8233

Fax: 416.922.1417

Email: support@womensbookstore.com

We continued our conversation with Robyn Bourgeois, who has recently returned from a trip to Vancouver, on the impacts of the 2010 Winter Olympic games, on sex trade workers, the homeless, the first-nations community and other groups. We talked about the successful attempt to block the Olympic torch when it came through Toronto on December 17. We heard a clip from a talk given by Harsha Walia, who is part of the Vancouver based Olympic resistance Network, describing the adverse impacts of the games. The talk can be found here.