Susan Ann Butterworth (10 September 1950 – 26 July 2004) was a British bookseller and activist, co-founder of Silver Moon Bookshop in 1984, and editor of the store's newsletter, Silver Moon Quarterly.
Sue Butterworth | |
|---|---|
| Born | 10 September 1950 Llandudno, Wales, UK |
| Died | 26 July 2004 (aged 53) Bank, Hampshire, UK |
| Education | Penrhos College |
| Occupation(s) | Bookseller, businesswoman, editor, activist |
| Known for | Co-founder of Silver Moon Bookshop |
Early life
editSue Butterworth was born in Llandudno in north Wales, the daughter of F. Buttersworth and Doris Buttersworth. Her father had a furniture store. She attended Penrhos College until the age of 16.[1][2] In 1973, she and a friend made a driving tour of South Africa.[3]
Career
editButterworth began working in publishing as a secretary, then as an editorial assistant at Book Club Associates from 1977 to 1981. She was a member of Women in Publishing from its launch in 1979.[4][5] In 1982, she and Jane Cholmeley began creating Silver Moon Bookshop, which opened in 1984 in Charing Cross Road, and Silver Moon Books, a publishing company.[6] They only stocked books by women;[7] they worked with publisher Barbara Grier of Naiad Press to bring more American lesbian-themed works to the British audience.[8][9] The shop was a community hub for feminists in London,[10] and her newsletter, the Silver Moon Quarterly, had more than 10,000 subscribers worldwide.[11]
After Silver Moon closed in 2001 due to rent increases,[12][13] Butterworth taught, chaired the Society of Bookmen from 2002 to 2003, and was vice-chair of the Book Trade Benevolent Society. She and Corinne Gotch founded Meerkat Books, a not-for-profit marketing network to promote independent British booksellers and publishers.[14]
Butterworth and Cholmeley won the Pandora Award from Women in Publishing in 1989, and the Mike Rhodes Trust Award in 2001.[1] In 1996, Butterworth served as a judge for the NCR Non-Fiction Prize, on a panel with Nick Hornby, Jeremy Paxman, Cristina Odone, and Andrew Roberts.[15]
Personal life
editButterworth died at Bank, Hampshire, in 2004, aged 53 years, from cancer; she was survived by her partner Irene Roele.[1][2] The British Book Industry Awards include a Sue Butterworth Award for Young Bookseller of the Year, named in her memory and sponsored by HarperCollins.[16][17]
References
edit- ^ a b c Cholmeley, Jane (14 August 2004). "Obituary: Sue Butterworth". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
- ^ a b Budge, Belinda (3 August 2004). "Sue Butterworth". The Independent. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
- ^ "People and Places". The North Wales Weekly News. 26 April 1973. p. 14. Retrieved 30 May 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Marsden, Harriet (9 April 2018). "These women have been fighting for gender equality in publishing for 30 years". The Independent. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
- ^ "Women in Publishing: An Oral History | Interviews with women in the book business since 1979". Women in Publishing: An Oral History. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
- ^ Evans, Sarah Jane (23 April 1992). "The Women's Rooms". The Guardian. p. 21. Retrieved 30 May 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Goodings, Lennie (27 February 2020). A Bite of the Apple: A Life with Books, Writers and Virago. Oxford University Press. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-19-256390-3.
- ^ Evans, Sarah Jane (4 July 1990). "Lesbians Like Pulp, too". The Guardian. p. 17. Retrieved 30 May 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Passet, Joanne (1 November 2016). Indomitable: The Life of Barbara Grier. Bella Books. ISBN 978-1-59493-664-7.
- ^ Anderson, Shelley. "Traveler's Guide: Silver Moon Women's Bookshop, London" The Lesbian Review of Books (April 30, 1996): 26. via ProQuest
- ^ "Sue Butterworth: Book trade activist and co-founder of Silver Moon". The Daily Telegraph. 4 August 2004. p. 23. Retrieved 30 May 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Entertainment: The last chapter for Charing Cross booksellers?". BBC News. 19 August 1998. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
- ^ Paton, Maureen (23 October 2001). "Eclipse of Silver Moon". The Guardian. p. 41. Retrieved 30 May 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Kean, Danuta (27 June 2003). "Uniquely Independent" Bookseller. via Business Source Complete.
- ^ "All present and correct". Evening Standard. 23 May 1996. p. 225. Retrieved 30 May 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Nawotka, Edward (18 May 2010). "Hachette Dominates UK's Bookseller Industry Awards". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
- ^ "HC to launch Sue Butterworth prize", The Bookseller, February 25, 2005, 6. Gale Academic OneFile. Retrieved May 29, 2022.
External links
edit- Annie Roma Southern, Women in the Book Trade: Three Women Publishers of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (2014); Butterworth is one of the profiled publishers in this volume.