[NIS_GS:] Women's Review of Books

Dear Women▓s Studies Community,

As you may know, The Women▓s Review of Books, hosted by the Wellesley
Centers on Women and appearing monthly since 1983, has recently been
forced to suspend publication for lack of funding. At a time of
anti-feminist backlash, with so many feminist institutions
disappearing,
we in the Women▓s Studies community cannot afford to let the WRB go
under without speaking up. We are writing to invite you to join us in
an e-mail campaign expressing your appreciation for the WRB and urging
both the Wellesley Centers for Women and Wellesley College to make the
relaunching of this publication a priority. If you would like to join
our effort, see below for addresses and more information.

We think you will agree that the WRB was unique among feminist and
review publications. It was not only interdisciplinary but also,
unlike
more specialized feminist journals, covered a wide range of works and
was addressed to an extremely broad audience. Works of fiction and
poetry were reviewed alongside works of scholarship. Reviewers and
readers hailed from outside as well as inside the academy. And unlike
most other review organs (whether scholarly or mainstream), it
consistently kept the focus on women and gender. Some of us have
written for the WRB or had our books reviewed there; many others are
occasional readers if not loyal subscribers. All of us have been
sustained by The Women▓s Review of Books≈professionally, personally,
and
politically.

The Wellesley Centers for Women is currently working with WRB editor
Amy
Hoffman to find a publisher or long-term donor willing to join them in
continuing to fund The Women▓s Review of Books. E-mails addressed to
WCW Executive Director Susan Bailey should thank the Wellesley Centers
for Women for past and present support. Bailey▓s e-mail is
wcw@wellesley.edu .

Although the WRB was originally founded with encouragement from then
Wellesley President Nan Keohane, Wellesley College has never supported
it financially (Wellesley does not fund scholarly journals). E-mails
addressed to current Wellesley President Diana Chapman Walsh
(dwalsh@wellesley.edu) might stress the broad appeal of the Women▓s
Review of Books --it▓s not really a scholarly journal per se, but
reaches a wider and more diverse audience and brings recognition to
Wellesley as a women▓s institution.

E-mails need not be long; a few brief sentences will do. (Feel free to
cut and paste from this letter.) The key point is to convey your sense
that The Women▓s Review of Books is important and irreplaceable≈and to
urge that Wellesley College as well as the Wellesley Centers for Women
do what they can to resurrect and support it. We would also appreciate
your forwarding this appeal to others who might be interested in
joining
our campaign.

Thank you very much for your help.

Sincerely,
Meryl Altman, Director of Women▓s Studies, DePauw University.
Eileen Boris, Hull Professor of Women's Studies, University of
California, Santa Barbara.
Susan Fraiman, Professor of English, University of Virginia.
Susan Gubar, Distinguished Professor of English, Indiana University.
Judith Hallett, Professor and Chair of Classics, University of
Maryland.
MichХle Le Doeuff, Directrice de recherche, CNRS.
Deborah E. McDowell, Alice Griffin Professor of English , University of
Virginia.
Alix Kates Shulman.


contact address: maltman@depauw.edu