Next month, Picador will reissue a trio of books by the late radical feminist writer Andrea Dworkin. Outfitted with new covers designed by Scheffe Shields, the publishing program will reintroduce three of Dworkin's best-known works—Woman Hating (1974), Pornography: Men Possessing Women (1981), and Right-Wing Women (1983)—to readers on February 25.
"There's no wrong place to start with Dworkin—but we think these three books constitute an essential collection of Dworkin's works," Rohan Kamicheril, senior editor at Picador, told PW. Kamicheril noted that all three titles have been out of print since Dworkin's death in 2005 "if not earlier," admitting that "the paper trail is elusive on this count." In total, Dworkin penned nine works of nonfiction, two novels, and a collection of short stories over three decades, beginning with Woman Hating.
The aim of the spotlight on Dworkin, Kamicheril said, is "to reintroduce her as one of our preeminent public thinkers and prose stylists to a whole new generation of readers.” But why now? For Hank Cochrane, VP and associate publisher at Picador, Dworkin has proven to be a "prescient and visionary writer" whose work is ripe for rediscovery amid what is, to put it mildly, a fraught political landscape.
"Over the past several years—especially since 2016—Dworkin’s name and work have been popping up in places like the Guardian, the New Yorker, and Vogue as someone who predicted the political moment we're now living in, with the rise of Trump and #MeToo," Cochrane told PW. "Dworkin’s work appeals to readers of all ages—in fact, last year, a colleague mentioned that Right-Wing Women was trending on TikTok! It’s clear a new generation is discovering her, and we want to make sure her work is easy for them to find.”
Kamicheril agrees that Dworkin was "ahead of her time and unapologetically radical in her examinations of a woman's world," and that Right-Wing Women is "particularly apt for our time" for its investigation into "the roots and complications of conservatism among American women." (In the most recent presidential election, 45% of women voted for Donald Trump.) Accordingly, Picador has announced a first print run of 30,000 copies for Right-Wing Women, which features a new introduction by feminist writer Moira Donegan, and 25,000 copies for Woman Hating and Pornography. Rights were acquired from John Stoltenberg, the executor of Dworkin's literary estate. Kamicheril described Stoltenberg—an activist, philosopher, and Dworkin’s life partner for 31 years—as "a partner in this enterprise."
“To this day, I miss Andrea dearly, but I know her words still live—especially in the hearts of the women to whom she devoted her life’s work," Stoltenberg told PW. "The breathtaking relevance of her voice is evident in the reissue of these three books: Woman-hating has not gone away, violent pornography has become pervasive, and women make ever more antifeminist alliances with right-wing men. Andrea told the unpopular truth about all of this, and her prescient vision inspires a better world.”
