Violette and Co, Bookshop and LGBT place in the 11th arrondissement, Paris, France
Violette and Co is a bookshop in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, focused on feminist and LGBTQIA+ topics, located at 52 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud. The shop holds around 6,500 titles across many formats, including novels, essays, comics, and art books, and has a small café with about fifteen seats on the ground floor.
The shop was founded in 2004 by activists Christine Lemoine and Catherine Florian, with the aim of creating a space for feminist and lesbian literature in Paris. After closing in February 2022, it reopened in a new space in the same neighborhood, thanks to a community fundraising campaign that raised over 170,000 euros.
The shop's name refers to Violette Leduc, a writer known for her lesbian literature, and to the color purple, long associated with feminism. The shelves include a dedicated children's section that covers themes of family and difference in an open and friendly way.
The shop is open Tuesday to Saturday, in the afternoons and evenings, and is easy to reach on foot from the street. The basement has a community space that local groups can use for free, and it is also available for reservations for events.
Violette and Co is the only lesbian bookshop in Paris, making it a rare kind of place in a city with a long literary history. The new owners, Olivia Sanchez, Loïse Tachon, and Lucile Regourd, were chosen by the founders themselves to carry the shop forward.
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