LILAC Library

25/07/2025

There's a return season of "The Magic of Her Body" at Katherine Mansfield House from 13th to 16th August. It's a journey through Mansfield’s sensual diary entries and sapphic-coded short stories

Join performance artist Vixen Temple and historian Kerryn Po***ck of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga on a journey through Mansfield’s sensual diary entries and sapphic-coded short stories, moving through the rooms in the home of her birth. Returning after a sold-out season during the 2025 Well...

15/05/2025

from the Ockham NZ Book Awards last night

It is the biggest night in New Zealand literature -- the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. We will be crossing live to the winner of the General Non-fiction category.

06/04/2025

we take the LILAC mobile library to Kapiti Coasters potluck dinners and display in a convenient spot - on a table or a bed perhaps. But last night all the occasional tables were loaded with pot plants so some ingenuity was needed ...

22/02/2025

LILAC's popular discussion group is meeting again this Friday 28th February at the library, from 5.30-7.30pm. All members are welcome.

Our topic this month is Intersectional Feminism - what is it - what are its origins and its aims, and how has understanding of it changed over time?

Below is a list of sources (available as free PDF files via a Google search) that may be of interest to understand how the concept developed and has changed over time. You don't have to have read them all to participate in the conversation! Links to the PDFs are in the comments below.

1. The Combahee River Collective Statement (1977)
2. Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Kimberle Crenshaw (1991)
3. Intersectionality and Feminist Politics. Nira Yuval-Davis (2006)
4. Affirming Fissures: Conceptualizing Intersectional ‘Ethnic’ Feminism in Aotearoa New Zealand. Rachel Simon-Kumar (2023)

If you have any questions about the group, message this page, or email lilac@le***an.net.nz with 'discussion group' as subject.

15/02/2025

That’s What I Am draws on oral history interviews conducted in the late 1990s with sixteen New Zealand le****ns over the age of 50. It tells the women’s stories through the decades, capturing memories of childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, falling in love and establishing relationships.
In the usual book shops and coming soon to LILAC

29/01/2025

Jill magazine is a new print magazine from Canada, with content from Canada, USA, UK, Australia - coming out, the pregnant tomboy, women's sport, health, d**e fashion, fashion, pets, puzzles, cooking and more. First issue is arriving at LILAC this week

13/01/2025

LILAC is opening for 2025 on Thursday this week - 11am-2pm

05/12/2024

the lights are on again

28/11/2024

LILAC has a wee problem at present - most of the lights are not shining - so it's now the Shady Lady Library until the electrician gets it sorted

09/11/2024

Dorothy Allison has died https://mailchi.mp/sinisterwisdom/dorothyallison?e=991870116e

19/08/2024

Today we acknowledge the passing of Dr Alison Laurie (1941-16 August 2024) in Copenhagen where she had been living. Alison was born in 1941 in Island Bay, Te Whanganui a Tara and was an incrediably active and influential feminist and activist in le***an and gay communities and organisations both here and overseas from the 1960s. Notable contributions included activism for le***an community and the gay liberation movement; Programme Director, Gender and Women's Studies at Victoria University and her work with Kawe Mahara Q***r Archives Aotearoa ( LAGANZ) as a researcher and contributor to the archive and as a trustee.

Alison was actively involved in the Circle, New Zealand’s first le***an magazine, published from 1973 until 1986, and Club41, the first le***an bar in Wellington (that sold alcohol illegally) and S.H.E, (Sisters for Homophile Equality) Aotearoa’s first le***an organisation which opened the first women’s refuge in Aotearoa. Alison also helped establish the first le***an conference in New Zealand in 1974. And was part of the group that formed the Le***an Community Radio Programme, still running under 'Quilted Bananas Radio', now the longest running community access programme.

And Alison's work as an academic, historian and oral historian was critical and inspired many, capturing the stories and lives of our communities, with her PhD "Lady-Husbands and Kamp Ladies: Pre-1970 Le***an Life in Aotearoa/New Zealand" still required reading for research into early le***an life.
Our thoughts and aroha are with Alison's friends and whānau.

Image credits: Charlotte Museum/ Personal Photos Collection/ Larraine Lamb Photo Album. Photos taken in Te Whanganui a Tara, exact date unknown (circa 1964)

A memorial service will be organised with details to come. Thank you to Linda Evans for contacting us over the weekend about Alison's passing.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alison-Laurie
https://www.pridenz.com/voices/40.html