Named for Virginia Woolf’s 1929 essay, A Room of One's Own feminist bookstore has been a fixture in Madison, Wisconsin, since its founding in 1975.
A Room of One’s Own offers a wide selection of current and classic fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, local interest titles, gifts, toys, and greeting cards and builds community and connection through events. It also has strong children’s and young adult, women’s studies, and LGBTQ+ fiction and nonfiction sections.
While the physical store was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the staff produced a series of book recommendation flowcharts—with names like “Haven’t Read Octavia Butler Yet?” “Sad Sapphic Reads,” and “I Wanna Be Destroyed, Fictionally”—that went viral on Instagram, were featured in The New York Times, and eventually blossomed into ongoing collaborations with the authors and artists themselves.
Amid the anti-LGBTQ+ political climate of 2023, the tiny Midwestern operation has become a resource and hub for advocates, allies, and readers across the country.
“There’s so much to say about what Pride means to us as a queer business, how terrifying everything is, how much of how we exist isn’t because we’re proud, we’re just here—and I love people and want them to get to exist, too,” says co-owner and manager Gretchen Treu. “Some of it is about providing respite; some is just about spite. It’s about helping people find and connect to people who are like them across time and space and experience, and helping other people find and know people who are not like them. Stories heal and are powerful tools of connection in an imperfect and increasingly terrifying and isolated age.”
Staff member Gideon Ariel says, “Room has always been a staple in Madison for me, long before I lived here and even longer before I was an employee. I came from a pretty conservative part of the country, so to hear about an out-and-proud feminist bookstore was like finding the lost city of Atlantis. After more than two years of working here, I can confirm that it’s just as magical as I had anticipated.”
He adds, “There are times when I’m afraid, because of TERFs [trans-exclusionary radical feminists] and other bigots that occasionally rear their heads and decide to spread their hatred. The majority of my experiences with Room, however, have been beyond positive . . . . We all take care of each other . . . . We stand by our principles and don’t back down from those who’d seek to silence us. At the end of the day, love is always louder. There’s no place that proves that more than Room.”
In honor of our Progressive Pride issue, here are some A Room of One’s Own staffers’ favorite books:
