MADGE AND MERCER MODERN APOTHECARY is excited to introduce a new series: MADGE MUSE. In this series, we celebrate a variety of people for their successes, failures, differences, shared experiences, and inspiration.

Makeda Silvera is a writer and activist and has been part of the cornerstones of Queer Black community in Toronto. In 1983, with her partner Stephanie Martin, they established the 101 Dewson Street collective house.

In 1985, she co-founded Sister Vision Press, a pioneering Canadian indie press devoted to publishing writing by women of colour. She has authored, published, and edited numerous books including Piece of My Heart: A Lesbian of Colour Anthology and Silenced, an extraordinary oral history account of Caribbean domestic workers in Canada.

Throughout her career as a writer, editor, and political activist, Silvera has been on a mission to ensure the stories of women, particularly queer women of colour, are told. In 1985, she co-founded Sister Vision, a pioneering Canadian indie press devoted to publishing writing by women of colour.

Silvera immigrated to Canada from Jamaica at 12 years old and has painted incredible, multilayered portraits of the immigrant experience. The African and Caribbean slave diaspora in her works of fiction, including the short story collection Her Head a Village and novel The Heart Does Not Bend.