The Off Pink Publishing Collective

The Off Pink Publishing Collective began at the Second National Bisexual Conference in London in April 1985. A discussion group conceived as a project the production of our first book Bisexual Lives.

The Collective began as nine people, all bisexual, all part of the bisexual community, all working in their spare time on a non-profit basis to help the community grow.

Bisexual Lives was self-published by the Off Pink Collective, with funding provided by loans from individuals and groups in the U.K. bisexual community. Bisexual Lives was very successful, 2000 copies selling out quite quickly.

After we had paid back all the loans, we channelled all the remaining money towards the production costs of our next book, Bisexual Horizons, which we hope is a true reflection of the issues and concerns uppermost in the minds of our many and varied contributors and of the bisexual community in general at the time. We were fortunate enough to find supportive publishers for Bisexual Horizons, details of which, as well as details of our first book Bisexual Lives, follow below.

Bisexual Horizons: Politics, Histories, Lives

Bisexual Horizons: Politics, Histories, Lives, (ISBN no.0853158312), edited by Sharon Rose, Cris Stevens, et al (The Off Pink Collective) was published by Lawrence and Wishart in 1996. This wide-ranging anthology offers a multifaceted and multicultural survey of bisexuality and of the growing bisexual movement in Britain and around the world. The book is divided into four sections:

• Theory and Representation which argues for flexibility in theories of sexual identity
• Personal Stories where bisexuals from many countries and backgrounds tell their stories and share their thoughts
• HIV, AIDS and Safer Sex looks beyond a number of myths, and examines safer-sex practices
• Bisexual Politics documents the development of the bisexual movement and its relationship to other political groups.

Joseph Bristow writes in the foreword:

Rarely do collections of this kind succeed like this one in revealing why it remains impossible to separate issues of sexuality from class, (dis)ability, ethnicity, gender and generation.

Copies of Bisexual Horizons can be obtained from all good bookshops or direct from

for £12.99 each. (Please add £1.00 per book for postage in the U.K., and £2.00 per book outside the U.K. Because of high bank charges, all payments must be in sterling.)

Bisexual Lives

Bisexual Lives (ISBN no. 0951310305) was edited and self-published by the Off Pink Collective in 1988. It brought together the diverse life stories of seven women and five men, presented in their own words with comments from other bisexuals interspersed between their profiles, moving towards a definition of bisexuality. The book also contains information on bisexuality and AIDS and contact details for bisexual groups. This important book is now out of print although reprinting is being considered. Let us know if you would be interested.