In Other Words

In Other Words is a non-profit, volunteer-run, feminist community center in Portland (and the inspiration behind Portlandia‘s “Women and Women First” feminist bookstore). In Other Words strives to inspire and cultivate feminist communities, nurturing social justice. The storefront serves as a bookstore, lending library and venue for feminist events. The center is open noon-7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. In Other Words has been serving the Portland community as a feminist bookstore, a low-cost and safe events space, and a community resource center since 1993. We were founded by Johanna Brenner, a PSU professor, and Kathryn Tetrick and Catherine Sameh, both women’s health activists. The center was created in response to the closure of “A Woman’s Space,” Portland’s only feminist bookstore. We moved from the original location on SE Hawthorne to NE Killingsworth in 2006 to a bigger space in the former Albina Arts Center, which is still owned by the Albina Women’s League. The move to the new space enabled us to expand the programming we offered and accommodate more people at events in our space. When we opened in 1993 there were over 200 feminist bookstores in the United States and today there are fewer than 30. In Other Words is the only feminist bookstore in the United States that also functions as a nonprofit organization, which has allowed us to serve a unique role in our communities. We are located at 14 NE Killingsworth St. in Portland, Oregon. We’re open from Noon – 7 on Tuesday – Saturday. Stop in and say hello!