On Thursday 13 November 2025, the international symposium Between Refuge and Refusal; tracing the history of feminist and queer bookstores and publishers takes place in the University Museum Utrecht. The symposium outlines the rich history of women’s bookstores and publishers and reflects on their impact on feminist and queer communities, then and now.
Historian Marijke Huisman gives a keynote and sheds light on the history and impact of Savannah Bay and the Heksenkelder. In addition, Jane Cholmeley (co-founder of the iconic Silver Moon Bookshop in London), Doris Hermanns (ex-owner VrouweninDruk and expert on the Women in Print movement), and Catherine Koekoek (researcher, curator and facilitator in the fields of architecture, feminism, and political philosophy) will have a conversation about the colorful history of women’s bookstores. A new generation of researchers, Inge Frank van Vught, Noah Littel, and Tessa Karsten talk about their research into the meaning of women’s publishers and queer archives.
The program encompasses panel conversations, poster presentations by (PhD-)students, and a symbolic transfer of the Savannah Bay archive to Atria and IHLIA. After the plenary program, there will be drinks during which the mini exhibition of our archive can be admired.
The title “Between Refuge and Refusal” is inspired by a study with the same title by Catherine Koekoek and Suzanne van der Beek on the positioning of Savannah Bay and other feminist/queer spaces.
What: Symposium Between Refuge and Refusal; tracing the history of feminist and queer bookstores and publishers
For whom: Researchers, academics, generally interested parties. Students are especially welcome!
Language: English
Where: University Museum Utrecht, Lange Nieuwstraat 106, 3512 PN Utrecht
Time: 13:00 – 18:00
Tickets: 15 euros
Op donderdag 13 november 2025 vindt het internationale symposium Between Refuge and Refusal; tracing the history of feminist and queer bookstores and publishers plaats in het Universiteitsmuseum Utrecht. Het symposium staat stil bij de rijke geschiedenis van vrouwenboekhandels en -uitgeverijen en reflecteert op hun betekenis voor feministische en queer gemeenschappen, toen én nu.
Historicus Marijke Huisman verzorgt de keynote en belicht de geschiedenis en impact van Savannah Bay en de Heksenkelder. Daarnaast gaan onder anderen Jane Cholmeley, (medeoprichter van de iconische Silver Moon Bookshop in Londen), Doris Hermanns (oud-eigenaar VrouweninDruk en expert op gebied van Women in Print beweging) en Catherine Koekoek (onderzoeker, curator en facilitator op het gebied van architectuur, feminisme en politieke theorie) met elkaar in gesprek over de kleurrijke geschiedenis van vrouwenboekwinkels. De jonge generatie onderzoekers, Inge Frank van Vught, Noah Littel en Tessa Karsten, vertellen over hun onderzoek naar de betekenis van vrouwenuitgeverijen en queer archieven.
Het programma omvat panelgesprekken, posterpresentaties van (PhD-)studenten, en een symbolische overdracht van het Savannah Bay archief aan Atria en IHLIA. Na het plenaire programma is er een netwerkborrel waar je de mini-expositie van ons archief kunt bewonderen.
De titel ‘Between Refuge and Refusal’ is ontleend aan een gelijknamig onderzoek van Catherine Koekoek en Suzanne van der Beek naar de positionering van Savannah Bay en andere feministische/queer ruimtes.
Wat: symposium Between Refuge and Refusal; tracing the history of feminist and queer bookstores and publishers
Voor wie: Onderzoekers, academici, algemeen geïnteresseerden. Vooral studenten zijn van hart welkom!
Voertaal: Engels
Waar: Universiteitsmuseum Utrecht, Lange Nieuwstraat 106, 3512 PN Utrecht
Tijd: 13:00 tot 18:00
Tickets: 15 euro
Marijke Huisman is associate professor of Public History in the Department of History and Art History. Her research explores public and academic historiography, focusing on auto/biographical past representations. In her 2015 monograph on slave autobiographies, she examined their impact on historical views of slavery in Britain, the US, and the Netherlands (1789–2013). Her 2008 PhD linked the 19th-century memoir boom to modern historical awareness, including gender’s role in autobiographical history writing. She has also published on life writing, feminism, and Mata Hari.
Marijke worked as a public historian on projects such as a history of Centraal Boekhuis (2021) and feminist bookstore Savannah Bay (2019). Earlier, she contributed to KNHG’s Historiedagen 2017, created a feminist poster education site for Atria (2002-03), and collaborated on histories for Utrecht University (2001), the Catholic Women’s Labour Movement (2000–01), and the 1998 commemoration of the National Exhibition of Women’s Labour. In addition, she served as editor of Vernieuwing. Tijdschrift voor onderwijs en opvoeding (1997-2005) and publications in the field of the Broad School.
Jane Cholmeley is a key figure in the history of British feminism. She co-founded Silver Moon Women’s Bookshop, which became the largest of its kind in Europe and a vibrant centre of women’s writing, hosting prestigious events with authors such as Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Jeanette Winterson and Margaret Atwood. Sandi Toksvig nominated Jane Cholmeley as a Gay Icon in the National Portrait Gallery’s exhibition of that name in 2009 and Jacqueline Wilson named Jane her feminist icon in Stylist, 2018. A Bookshop of One’s Own was shortlisted for the Indie Book Awards, Christopher Bland Prize and The People’s Book Prize and was a Waterstones Best Memoir of 2024.
Doris Hermanns ran the antiquarian bookshop Vrouwenindruk for almost 20 years, first in Amsterdam, later in Utrecht. Since 2015, she has been living in Berlin and working as an author, editor, and translator. For 25 years, she has been part of the editorial team of Virginia Frauenbuchkritik, a review magazine for reviews of books by women authors, written by women. She also writes profiles of women for FemBio.org and reviews for AVIVA-Berlin, an online magazine. In 2021, she was honored as BücherFrau des Jahres. She has published several books, including a biography of Christa Winsloe and, this year (2025), Sand im patriarchalen Getriebe. Zur Geschichte der Frauen-Buch-Bewegung, in which she writes about the history of women’s bookstores, women’s and educational publishers, International Feminist Book Fairs, and everything related to them.
Catherine Koekoek is a researcher, curator and facilitator in the fields of architecture, feminism, and political philosophy. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Knowledge, Transformation & Society research group at the University of Twente. Her PhD Towards an Architecture of Democratic Infrastructures (Erasmus University Rotterdam, 2025) explored the spatial and practical conditions for democratic practice. It includes empirical-philosophical studies of community centres in Rotterdam, queer-feminist bookshop Savannah Bay, and participatory community theatre Rotterdams Wijktheater, with which she has worked since 2018. She was co-curator of the 2024 International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, Nature of Hope, and co-produces feminist architecture podcast Respons.
Inge Frank van Vught is an artist, archivist, and researcher. In their master’s thesis, Inge Frank researched the archives of the printing and publishing house Atalanta (1980-present) and published their findings in 2023 (‘Vlinders, kom uit je kokon!’ Uitgeverij Atalanta en de vrouwenboekbeweging van de tweede feministische golf, Armorica 2023). They have also worked as an archivist for various organizations. Inge Frank currently focuses on their creative activities and making prosthetics for transmasculine people.
Tessa Karsten is a PhD candidate for the project In Our Own Words: Language, Life Story-Telling, and Empowerment in the United States at the University of Amsterdam. Here, she researches on lesbian literary activism in the Feminist Bookstore Network in the last quarter of the 20th century in the United States. In addition to this, she is editor-in-chief of the literary journal FRAME and writes for the intersectional feminist magazine LOVER. She holds an MA in North American Studies and Literature, both from Leiden University.
Noah Littel is PhD-Candidate at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University and tutor at Utrecht University College. They research the history of Dutch queer and feminist archival institutes, from the 1970s onwards. Noah made an exhibition titled ‘The Archive in Progress’ (December 2021-May 2022) which was shown at IHLIA LGBTI Heritage and at Atria: institute on gender equality and women’s history, in Amsterdam, and is now available as online exhibition. Their other research interests include queer and feminist social movement histories, and intersectional heritage practices. Their latest publication is the co-edited publication (Re)Claiming (2024) in the Archival Textures series.
Suzanne van der Beek is an assistant professor of culture studies at Tilburg University. Her work focuses on the literary imagination of urgent social topics. She was one of the authors of the anniversary volume Savannah Bay: Geschiedenis van een bijzondere boekwinkel and co-author of the article “Between Refusal and Refuge”, which explores the position the bookstore holds for its volunteers.
Fleur Renkema is a PhD researcher at Utrecht University. Her research focuses on the gay and lesbian left in the Netherlands in the 1970s and 1980s, a formation of activists who combined sexual politics with left-wing politics. Within this group, she examines how cultural practices—such as film festivals, bookstores, music, and publishing—functioned as political acts and sites of solidarity.
The title of her poster presentation is “The cultural is political: cultural forms of activism in the Dutch lesbian movement”.
Naast de mooiste Nederlandse en Engelstalige literatuur vind je bij ons de leukste cadeautjes, een uitgebreide selectie aan poëzie en de belangrijkste boeken over LHBTQIA+, genderstudies, dekolonisatie, natuur & klimaat.
