When Helen Lenskyj joined the Broadside collective in 1986, she had just finished her first book, “Out of Bounds: Women, Sport and Sexuality,” and was teaching part-time at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto – so she had lots of free time. As well as attending the weekly planning meetings, she worked on the monthly marathon session to do the paste-up, a skill that she never really mastered despite lots of practice. Most months, she wrote a short piece – a book or film review, or an interview – as well as several longer articles.
Wearing a Broadside press pass to the Mariposa Folk Festival and interviewing Holly Near was probably the highlight of her Broadside experience. She later worked as the manuscript editor of Resources for Feminist Research for three years, and in 1990, started a full-time position as professor, retiring in 2007.
Since 2000, Helen’s written five more books, including an autobiography and three books critical of the Olympic industry, and is currently working on a book on gender politics and the Olympics.