Firebrand Books is a publishing house established in 1984 by Nancy K. Bereano, a lesbian and feminist activist, in Ithaca, NY.
"[2] Firebrand was the first publisher of Dorothy Allison's 1988 short story collection Trash, which subsequently won double Lambda Literary Awards in the categories of Lesbian Fiction and Small Press, and of the "Dykes to Watch Out For" series by Alison Bechdel.
Bereano has emphasized the importance of small independent presses in supporting and promoting "new ways of thinking," especially for readers marginalized by large publishing houses.
[4]After Bereano's retirement in 1994, Firebrand Books was sold, first to distributor LPC Group, and eventually to Karen Oosterhouse, who relocated the press from Ithaca to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2003.
The nomination was authored and spearheaded by Jeff Iovannone, a historian specializing in LGBTQ heritage conservation pursuing a graduate degree in Historic Preservation Planning from Cornell University.