Naiad Press founder dies at 78

Barbara Grier, co-founder of the lesbian-themed Naiad Press, has died in Tallahassee, Florida, aged 78, Associated Press reports.

Grier and her partner Donna McBride started up the publishing house with two other women in 1973. It grew to be  the world's largest publishing house of literature about gays and lesbians.

The publication in 1985 of the controversial Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence made the Naiad Press famous.

Written by two former nuns, the book was based on interviews with 50 former or active nuns who were also lesbians.

When one of the authors was to be interviewed by a Boston TV station the local Catholic Church protested and the ensuing publicity turned the non-fiction book into a bestseller.

In the weeks following Naiad had to scramble to fill new orders.

"This is crazy," Grier told the New York Times, "I'm a mouse giving birth to an elephant."

Grier is survived by McBride who said, "It was [Barbara's] belief that through literature she could make lesbians feel good about themselves and find a happy life."

Picture: Barbara Grier, left, and Donna McBride, founders of Naiad Press, in 1993; Mark Foley.