Spreading the Word[s]

When co-founders Mair Smith, Halyna Freeland, and Julie-Anne LeGras formed the Common Woman Books non-profit collective, their aim was to make feminist literature available across the province, whether by mail or travelling directly to customers in Lethbridge, Calgary, Olds, and Grande Prairie. Members came to Edmonton with experience in places as far away as the Northwest Territories to promote accessibility to literature in both rural and urban communities. Orders came in locally as well as from Ontario and the United States, and the demand made keeping up with deliveries difficult. In the fall of 1980, Common Woman Books opened their first brick-and-mortar store on 109th Street and 86th Avenue in Garneau. Naysayers doubted the cramped second floor shop would find its audience, and the collective was well aware of the resistance to feminism and social change outside its walls. However, Common Woman Books’ physical store not only helped sales, the founders soon observed it had become a place for women to meet, socialize, and coordinate events as well.

At the same time that Common Woman Books opened its first store, Edmonton's 2SLGBTQ+ communities were searching for spaces to connect. Pride celebrations only formally began in Edmonton in 1982, and were casual, relatively private picnics and sporting events. Public marches and parades would not exist at Pride events in the city for another decade. In addition to facing hostility from the larger heterosexual society, and the risk of losing employment, housing, and social support if outed, queer women also faced misogyny and discrimination from within the queer community. Women were often barred from entering gay clubs like Club 70 without a male signatory, and lesbians would unexpectedly have their visiting privileges revoked at Flashback. One contemporary women’s club in the city was frequently raided by police looking for evidence of prostitution or drugs, and its seedy reputation kept people away. Those who did not want to take part in the bar or club scene had few places to learn that there was a local community, let alone a place to go or meet. Common Woman Books' clearly labeled "Lesbian" section quickly became a beacon to queer women seeking community in Edmonton and beyond.

In mid-1981, Common Woman Books launched the Every Woman's Place Society collective to realize a new dream of creating a quiet, welcoming space for women in Edmonton. 200 people attended a potluck dinner and dance fundraiser to raise money for a two-storey house the collective hoped to use as a socializing and office space for women's groups around the city. Every Woman's Place steering committee member and Common Woman Books volunteer Maureen Irwin, then Maureen Warren, had recently come out as a lesbian. Irwin, also a member of Edmonton’s chapter of Gay Alliance Towards Equality (GATE), became a fixture of the local 2SLGBTQ+ activist community, which was now galvanizing around the recent Pisces Spa Raid. Through like-minded organizers, activists and volunteers working with Common Woman Books and Every Woman’s Place, including Irwin and her future spouse Sheryl McInnes, the collectives were able to tap directly into Edmonton's emerging queer community. “I am grateful to those who envisioned this place,” Sheryl Ackerman reflected, “When they called it “EVERY” Woman’s Place, I felt secure that it included lesbians too, and it did indeed.”

Common Woman Books relocated next to a clothing boutique on the trendy Whyte Avenue in the fall of 1981, just in time to take advantage of the foot traffic brought by Old Strathcona’s revitalization efforts. The store at 82nd Avenue and 104th Street became what volunteer Sheryl Ackerman recalled as "a boisterous centre" and "a hub of activity, centered on the desire for social change." This new space hosted numerous authors’ visits, readings, concerts, and benefits. Working in tandem with the bookstore, Every Woman's Place was enormously successful in organizing women's pub nights, workshops on Marxism, and simply being a place for quiet conversation. “It fulfills a space in some people’s lives,” Mair Smith elaborated, “a need for companionship and involvement… There are not too many places that women can get together that doesn’t cost.” In the same way that Common Woman Books and Every Woman’s Place created the possibilities for women to meet, they helped lay the groundwork for queer women in the city to connect. The collective sparked the initiative for queer women in the city to create a space of their own.

Common Woman Books and Womonspace

Edmonton's longest running lesbian society first became possible in part because of Common Woman Books' role as an information hub and social space. "I had run into a paper at Common Woman Books called Women Spirit and I had that in mind when we were thinking of a name," Womonspace co-founder Jeanne related to Fine Print:

One of the things that was foremost in our minds was that there has to be space in this city for lesbians - there just had to be - we’re here. We can’t go on being anonymous and oblivious. Then we started thinking actively about obtaining our own physical space for our organization. So it just came together, naturally.

In June of 1982, the fledgeling Womonspace News published its first news sheet by and for lesbians in Edmonton. "We would like to mail out a regular news sheet similar to this, however, up to now our pinched finances have not permitted us to do so," the editors lamented, "For the time being, therefore, we will try to post our activities at GATE, Common Woman Books, and at Every Woman's Place." From the very beginning of the newsletter, Common Woman Books was Womonspace News' faithful distributor and frequent collaborator. Alongside Common Woman Books’ stock of national queer periodicals like The Body Politic and international publications such as On Our Backs and Lesbian Connection, Edmontonians could now find local lesbian news and upcoming events across the province.

In turn, Womonspace News printed advertisements for "Alberta's only feminist bookstore" and their wares, including "non-sexist children’s books, records, jewelry, t-shirts, fiction, feminist theory, overcoming male & female stereotypes," and most importantly of all, "a good selection of lesbian literature". The next year, Common Woman Books partnered with Gay and Lesbian Awareness, selling GALA ‘83 Pride Passes and hosting a Lesbian Book Fair, an event that quickly became an annual part of GALA celebrations. The bookstore offered an evening discount on "records, tapes, and other items of interest to women" followed by a musical get together. In the following years, the book sale and accompanying wine and cheese party would become one of GALA's most popular events and led to nearly empty shelves in the days afterward.

Womonspace readers were invited to the bookstore's fifth anniversary celebration in the fall of 1983 with promises of "Live music, singing, dancing, and other debauchery" at the Garneau community hall. After a successful International Women's Day dance and fundraiser for the bookstore the following spring, the Common Woman Books collective reached out to thank Womonspace for their organizational expertise and advertisement:

We of Common Woman Books would like to thank Womonspace for the help and support that we have received for our dance on March 3rd. In particular we would like to thank you for including our flyer in your February issue of Womonspace News. Over 250 women came to the dance and we know that a lot of women heard about it through Womonspace News. We would also like to thank you for sharing your organizational materials such as the food and liquor lists.

Common Woman Books and Womonspace continued to collaborate throughout the 1980s. The bookstore provided information on upcoming lesbian brunches and potluck suppers, Heather Bishop concerts and GALA events, and continued to go a step further to make queer women feel welcome in the wider feminist community. At another International Women's Day event where the displays outnumbered places to put them, Common Woman Books was willing to make space for Womonspace, quite literally. Womonspace News commended organizers "for talking Common Woman Books out of a small corner of one of their tables and making a great display for Womonspace." As a result, Womonspace was able to take part in the festivities, share information, and sell many T-shirts.

Common Woman Books frequently appeared in the pages of Womonspace News, whether as the place to find the perfect handmade Christmas gift for lesbians, where to pick up tickets for an upcoming concert or film festival, or the first place to look for a copy of any book or magazine reviewed in the newsletter. The bookstore was a top recommended resource for rural and small town queer women struggling to find community. "You may not meet anyone," one Womonspace writer advised readers thinking of making the trek into Edmonton, "but you’ll be delighted with the mass amount of reading material available to you." Womonspace News' advice column also suggested the bookstore as an invaluable resource for a local mother concerned that her daughter could be a lesbian: "Common Woman Books also has some wonderful literature for parents of lesbians. I wish you both the best of luck – and take heart – your daughter sounds like a terrific person."

Radical Bookselling

While Common Woman Books remained Alberta's first and oldest feminist bookstore, it was not long before it began sharing the spotlight. A Woman's Place opened a storefront in Calgary in 1983, and independent bookstores like Greenwoods on Whyte Avenue began to expand their selections of gay and lesbian literature according to customer demand. By 1985, the store was in dire financial straits, but the collective's goal to be the best alternate bookstore in North America drove its survival.

The Common Woman Books collective responded to new competition by expanding their selection. In 1987, the store opened its freshly painted lilac doors in the Garneau Theatre building on 109th street, growing its name as well as its catalogue. Now known as "Common Woman Books / The Radical Bookseller", the second title reflected the collective's ambition for broad social change. As the Edmonton Journal elaborated, "that means books on topics such as lesbianism, gay rights, ecology, international affairs, family violence, native issues and leftist politics jostle feminism for space in the shop’s well-displayed shelves." Although members expected backlash to the word 'radical', the new title did not spark nearly as much controversy as the original 'Common Woman'. “I think that’s because it’s still easier to be politically active than it is to be female,” Freeland suspected, “For many women, walking into this bookstore is a way of questioning sexism in this society – our name has always been a challenging name.”

By Common Woman Books' 11th birthday in 1989, the store was no longer solely run by volunteers. What began as a single shelf was now 5,300 titles. The collective took a risk by operating more like a business, but the non-profit remained a vital resource centre and community space for Edmontonians, now with more events geared for men and children as well as women. “Although we branched out into selling socialist and gay men's books," Andrea Harbour explained, "it was still the feminist theory, lesbian and women’s fiction which paid the rent.”

Closing the Book

“Common Woman Books has moved to a new location, but it’s still the best place in town to buy lesbian literature," Womonspace News reminded readers in 1991. The lease at the Garneau Theatre was up, but the bookstore's new location at Whyte Avenue and 108th Street had the same amount of space across two floors. To celebrate the grand opening, Common Woman Books hosted several readings of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. One "flair for fiction" reader on the bill was local writer Jacqueline Dumas, who would be inspired by Common Woman Books to open her own Orlando Books specializing in gay and lesbian literature a few years later. In less than a year from the opening celebrations, Common Woman Books would close for the last time, leaving a large alternative vacuum to fill.

“Saturday’s closing of Common Woman Books marked a sad day for Edmonton feminists, gays and social activists," remarked a local journalist. The closure of Common Woman Books in early 1992 after 13 years came as a shock to Edmontonians. "The rumours are true," Halyna Freeland said, citing money and staffing issues, "We’ve been hoping another group would emerge to take over the operation, but it hasn’t happened." A recent recession, the introduction of GST, and the store's pivot towards used books after hardship acquiring new titles all made store operations difficult. The alternative bookstore had also struggled against a resistance to feminism and social change since the beginning. "I can’t tell you how many people… come into the store and notice our section on lesbian fiction and non-fiction and are very shocked and run out of the store,” Freeland told the Edmonton Journal. Even so, Freeland did not think of the store as a failure:

As a bookstore we did a lot of good – we did a lot to bring readers and writers together. Our book launches were also very well attended… and the store always was a place for women to come for information.

For feminists around Alberta, Common Woman Books represented a vital space for patrons to find information, connect with each other, and give back to the community. For Edmonton's queer community, Common Woman Books was a lifeline and one of very few shelters from homophobia and misogyny in the city. The bookstore was not only one of the first in the province to welcome lesbians by name, it provided the foundation for women who loved women across the city to meet, organize, fundraise, and share memorable dinners and dances. As Common Woman Books founder Halyna Freeland expressed, books could be tools and weapons of change, but were also for pleasure - a philosophy that Edmonton's 2SLGBTQ+ community would heartily embrace into the 21st century.