Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards
San Francisco, California — Aunt Lute is pleased to announce Olivia on the Record has been recognized as a finalist in the 23rd annual Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards.
As part of its mission to discover, review, and share the best books from university and independent publishers, Foreword Magazine, Inc. hosts an annual awards program each year.
After more than 2,000 individual titles spread across 55 genres were submitted for consideration, the Finalists were determined by Foreword’s editorial team. Winners will be decided by an expert team of booksellers and librarians—representing Foreword’s trade readership—from across the country.
The complete list of Foreword INDIES finalists can be found here.
“The pandemic did not slow down the quality of great books coming from the independent publishing community in 2020. The Finalist selection process this year was one of the hardest our team encountered due to the vast number of excellent submissions,” said Victoria Sutherland, Foreword publisher.
The Golden Crown Literary Society Awards
San Francisco, California — We are also pleased to announce Olivia on the Record has been recognized as a nominee for the 2021 Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) in the General Nonfiction category.
The Golden Crown Literary Society's mission is to increase the visibility and quality of literature that embraces and celebrates women loving women (WLW). Their goals are to recognize and reward quality literary works about women who love women, provide learning opportunities, encouragement and assistance to new and established writers in developing their craft, provide opportunities to promote WLW literature including events that bring readers and writers together, and be inclusive of friends/supporters of literature that celebrates women who love women.
Find the full list of GCLS 2021 nominees here.
The burgeoning lesbian and feminist movements of the '70s and '80s created an impetus to form more independent and equitable social and cultural institutions—bookstores, publishers, health clinics, and more—to support the unprecedented surge in women's arts of all kinds. Olivia Records was at the forefront of these models, not only recording and distributing women's music but also creating new spaces for previously isolated women and lesbians through concerts and festivals.
Ginny Z. Berson, one of Olivia's founding members and visionaries, kept copious records during those heady days—days also fraught with contradictions, conflicts, and economic pitfalls. With great honesty, Berson offers her personal take on those times, revisiting the excitement and the hardships of creating a fair and equitable lesbian-feminist business model—one that had no precedent.
Upcoming Event
At Home with Olivia Featuring Ginny Z Berson and Judy Dlugacz
In 1973, a group of friends and radical lesbian feminists decided to change the world by creating Olivia Records. 48 years later two of the original founders, Judy Dlugacz and Ginny Z Berson reflect on how and why they did it and how it impacted the women's musical/cultural and political movements that changed the world for generations of women.
Whether you were part of the early history of lesbian feminism or want to learn about this part of women’s history, we promise you an intimate glimpse into this extraordinary journey. Judy continued with Olivia as President, envisioning and leading its transition from a record company to a travel company; Ginny went on to other social justice pursuits and is the author of Olivia on the Record: A Radical Experiment in Women's Music, published by Aunt Lute Books.
Join us for this very special conversation and get the inside scoop on how this amazing company began and why/ how a small group of women changed the world for women.
Friday, March 26
4 pm PT / 7 pm ET