Today we celebrate:
40 years of challenging the status quo.
40 years of changing the literary landscape.
40 years of green spines.
Today we are celebrating 40 years of Virago Modern Classics. Share your collections with us using
#VMC40
!
#SusanFerrier
sold more copies of her novels than her contemporary, Jane Austen. Sir Walter Scott declared her his equal.Why, then has she been lost to history? 2018 is the 200th anniversary of Marriage, her sharply observed, comic novel. It is time to rediscover her brilliance.
💚📗🍏 An elegant and iconic new design for our Modern Classics list: a love letter to our original ‘green spines’ 🍏📗💚
Launching in Jan with ten titles ranging from beloved novels to acerbic essays, unsettling masterpieces to feminist gamechangers ➡
We are thrilled at the news that Sarah Waters has been awarded an OBE for services to literature, in the Queen's Birthday Honours. HUGE congratulations Sarah!
Gilmore Girls fans get ready!🍁
We’re so thrilled that
@thelaurengraham
’s wildly entertaining essay collection is OUT NOW🎉
HAVE I TOLD YOU THIS ALREADY? is a candid, insightful, and wildly entertaining essay collection🔗
'Sad goodbye to Carmen Callil. Devastated she won’t be part of the 50th celebrations for the imprint she founded to `change the world’. Champion of women, outspoken critic, wonderful friend and utterly unique human being. A genius.' - Lennie Goodings
We are delighted to announce the return of our
#GreenSpines
!
As part of our 40th anniversary celebrations we will be re-introducing green spines across our entire Virago Modern Classics list.
Turns out, it is easy being green.
#VMC40
'If you've ever been young, you will love
#TheRachelIncident
' -
@gabriellezevin
We're so excited about Caroline O'Donoghue's new novel & to celebrate we're giving away 4x proof copies!
Follow & RT to enter, UK only. Closes 12pm, 6 March 💖 4x winners will be chosen at random.
We've come over all festive thanks to this amazing Virago books TREE, created by avid Virago reader Charlotte Featherstone! Do you have enough green spines in your collection to create your own Virago Book Tree?
#ViragoBookTree
#ViragoGreenSpines
#ViragoModernClassics
Joan Aiken was born
#OnThisDay
in 1924 - one of the most original storytellers, her influence is still felt today.
Only yesterday
@neilhimself
called her 'one of the most important and interesting children's fiction writers of the last 50 years'
Today is set to be HOT so we're helping you cool down by giving away 3 copies of Islanders! Safer to send in the post than actual ice cream. 😉🍦
Simply RT & reply with your favourite ice cream flavour before midnight.
#Islanders
@_cathythomas
#ViragoBooks
#Heatwave
#Giveaway
We are
#OutOfOffice
until 2019.
Today is the last day in 2018 women get paid to work because of the gender pay gap. The Gender Pay Gap is on average 17.9% but for some women it’s even worse. The average pay gap for BAME is between 24% and 26%.
#EqualPayDay
'Margaret Atwood is a Virago Classic herself’
To celebrate forty years of publishing
@MargaretAtwood
and to mark the release of her new novel
#TheTestaments
we are publishing a beautiful Collector’s series, designed by
@typeasimage
.
Find out more:
Noel Streatfeild was born on Christmas Eve. (Is that why she was named Noel?) The Icelandic tradition jólabókaflóð - exchanging & reading books on Christmas Eve - is one we're keen to adopt. We'll be thinking of Noel as we tuck into her Christmas stories.
On this day in 1907 Daphne du Maurier was born. Haunting and atmospheric, her work occupies a unique place in 20th century literature.
What was the first Daphne du Maurier book you picked up?
#OnThisDay
#DaphneduMaurier
We’re thrilled to reveal stunning new look editions for Sarah Waters’ Victorian novels.
Spellbinding, simmering and written with startling power, discover these novels for the first time or fall for them anew.
Available to pre-order now:
✨ Out today✨ Stunning new look editions for Sarah Waters’ Victorian novels.
Spellbinding, simmering and written with startling power, these novels have thrilled and delighted readers since their first publication.
Get yours now:
Some lucky commuters will get their hands on one of these limited edition
#BetweenTheStops
ticket holders as well as a copy of the book itself!
#RideTheBusWithSandi
#Onthisday
45 years ago Virago held its first board meeting.
So begun our mission to champion women’s writing for the widest possible audience and 45 years on we are proudly still dedicated to that original mission.
#45YearsofVirago
#ViragoBooks
#Virago
This year we are celebrating fifty years of feminist publishing! Founded in 1973, Virago believed then and now that books can change the world.
🍎 Stay tuned for our anniversary plans by following us here and subscribing to our newsletter:
#Virago50
On this day in 1940 Angela Carter was born - to celebrate what would've been her 80th birthday, we want to know your favourite Angela Carter book.
#AngelaCarter
#OnThisDay
Wonderful news: on our children's classics list we'll publish Noel Streatfeild's 'Apple Bough' & 'Caldicott Place', followed by Christmas and holiday collections of forgotten short stories. If you thought you'd read everything, there's more to discover!
“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”
― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
Today marks the 136th anniversary of
#VirginiaWoolf
's birth, an inspiration to writers and women everywhere.
#OnThisDay
in 1973 the newly-named Virago Press is official.
Virago, a feminist business was officially listed as a publishing company in June 1973.
Explore five decades of Virago here:
#Virago50
#ViragoBooks
#ViragoPress
We couldn't agree more with what
@neilhimself
says here. Joan Aiken is 'one of the most important and interesting children's fiction writers of the last 50 years'. We're SO very proud to publish her on the VMC children's list!
This deployment of the "you've never read anything by this author" meme baffles me. Joan Aiken's not obscure. She's one of the most important and interesting children's fiction writers of the last 50 years.
Angela Carter’s novels and short stories remain highly influential for their dark, humorous and often surreal portrayal of feminist ideas. Her home in Clapham, where she lived for the last 16 years of her life, has now been commemorated with a blue plaque. 🔵
Are you travelling on the number 12 bus between Dulwich Library and Oxford Circus this evening? Then keep your eyes peeled for these copies of
#BetweenTheStops
that are making their way across London to 12 lucky readers!
#RideTheBusWithSandi
.
@sanditoksvig
, writer, broadcaster, activist, comic of stage, screen and radio for nearly forty years, could, of course, only write a memoir with a difference...
Between The Stops is out in dazzling paperback livery on 27 August 2020:
"But luxury has never appealed to me, I like simple things, books, being alone, or with somebody who understands."
Happy birthday to Daphne du Maurier who was born
#onthisday
in 1907.
We are honoured to be publishing all seven volumes of Dr Maya Angelou's inspirational autobiographical writing 🌼
Reissued as Virago Modern Classics, we cannot wait for even more readers to discover Dr Angelou's incredible life and legacy.
Read more:
🌞🐈 Meet Minka & Curdy 🐈🌙
This enchanting book describes the adventures - and misadventures - of two very different kittens. Delightfully illustrated with line drawings, this is a charming love letter to feline companionship from the author of Frost in May
Coming 5 October
To mark our 50th anniversary we've partnered with
@Foyles
to create an exhibition exploring half a decade of feminist publishing.
Head to Charing Cross Road to learn more about the landmark moments in our history and see some incredible vintage Virago cover designs🍏
#Virago50
On this day in 1913 Barbara Pym was born.
Find out more about Pym and her extraordinary collection of work with our 'Where to Start with Barbara Pym' guide:
#BarbaraPym
#ViragoModernClassics
#OnThisDay
‘Words, hmm? They seduce us in darkness, and the mind clothes and fleshes them to fashions of its own’ Fingersmith
Sarah Waters's spellbinding and simmering Victorian novels are out now in stunning new look editions:
This week we were delighted to hear that
#AngelaCarter
is being honoured with a blue plaque by
@EnglishHeritage
.
But, the disparity in the number of men and women recognised by
#blueplaques
looms large, currently just 14% celebrate women!
Find out more:
#OnThisDay
in 1907 Daphne du Maurier was born. This incredible woman would go on to write more than 30 books - fiction, non-fiction and collections of short stories.
Do you have a favourite du Maurier novel?
@D_DuMaurier
#DaphneduMaurier
Calling all fans of Noel Streatfeild - there are more newly discovered stories coming your way this year, and here's an early peek of the cover.
#NoelStreatfeild
Today is
#InternationalWomensDay
and team Virago is so proud to be part of the on going fight for equality. Wherever you are, whoever you are, we are standing with you.
Today we are celebrating Zora Neale Hurston. An author who was buried in an unmarked grave in 1960, but is acknowledged as a vital influence by nearly every black woman writer of significance, including Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker.
#ViragoPressForProgress
In celebration of
#IWD2021
we are giving away a stack of books from our VMC
#DesignerCollection
!
To enter, comment below telling us about book - by a woman or non-binary person - you are excited to read this year.
T&Cs APPLY: CLOSES 31.03 | UK ONLY
The ways between worlds are opening and we're delighted to be releasing
#Hag
, a dark, potent and uncanny collection of folktales wildly reimagined by some of the most exciting women writing today.
Out today:
Today we celebrate
#100years
since the Representation of the People Act, a piece of legislation which took the first step in the fight for universal suffrage.
To mark the occasion, we asked some of our authors to share their
#FeministMustReads
:
#Vote100
Palmares hails the return of a major voice in literature. Gayl Jones was first discovered by Toni Morrison. After a handful of acclaimed novels, she withdrew from publishing. Now Jones returns with her first new novel in two decades.
Out this September:
We are delighted to share the first episode of our relaunched
#ViragoPodcast
featuring our very own Lennie Goodings in conversation with Sarah Waters, discussing the 20th Anniversary of Tipping the Velvet. Listen and subscribe here:
🏙 Inspired Candace Bushnell to write Sex and the City 🏙
Controversial at the time of publication, its exploration of contraception, marriage, sex, women's careers and mental health are still extremely relevant today
Our 60th anniversary edition of
#TheGroup
is out 3rd August
What Rebecca do you have? And which did you first read?
These are the four Virago editions - because just one wouldn't be enough.
#Rebeccaat80
#DaphneduMaurier
We are delighted to announce a brand new publication from Marilynne Robinson, JACK – making her famous Gilead novels a quartet.
Out this September!
Find out more:
#Jack
#MarilynneRobinson
#ComingSoon
These intriguing proofs just landed!
The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames is a gripping memoir and revelatory investigation into the history of the
#FoundlingHospital
and one girl who grew up in its care - the author's own mother.
Hands up if you want one.
#DorothySoames
We are excited to reveal the cover for the new thriller
#TheTurnout
from the multi-award-winning writer
@meganeabbott
set in the hothouse world of a ballet school – find out more
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Virago Modern Classics, this May, we are publishing a baker’s dozen of stunning, deluxe paperbacks.
Find out more and view all 13 titles: …
#VMC40
@YehrinTong
✨'One of the greatest historical novels ever written' SARAH WATERS ✨
✨'I love to find queer representation in historical fiction' DOUGLAS STUART ✨
A stunning new hardback edition of Mary Renault's masterpiece: a spellbinding reimagining of Alexander the Great. Out in July.
A groundbreaking queer classic reimagining the last years of Alexander the Great, told through the eyes of his lover.
🏺'One of the greatest historical novels ever written' SARAH WATERS
🏺 'I love to find queer representation in historical fiction' DOUGLAS STUART
Out 18 July.
13th May is the birthday of Daphne du Maurier, one of the best-loved authors of the twentieth century.
To mark the day, we’ve compiled 13 facts about the author and her work:
“I did always think my entire life: wouldn't it be great if all I had to do was lie on the sofa and read?”
Cult writer Fran Lebowitz talks to Harper's Bazaar about books, Britney and the right to be grumpy.
'Let’s be honest: you are not “well read” if you don’t read women. You cannot consider yourself a man of letters if you leave the women of letters on the bookshop shelf.'
YES! Well said
@rhiannonlucyc
And brava,
@legroff
Since announcing our publication of Noel Streatfeild, some of you have contacted us to say you weren't aware we had a classic children's list. Here it is, including Nina Bawden, Joan Aiken, Rumer Godden, E. Nesbit, L. M. Montgomery. Enjoy!:
First peek of next year's special 80th anniversary edition of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.
With an incredible new introduction by Sarah Perry.
@studio_of_ideas
@CBGBooks