Lavender Library Press (LLP) is a queer woman-run indie educational and entertainment press and creative house rooted in truthfulness, transparency, intercultural representation, confidence, compassion, joy, and justice for all.

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LLP operates on Treaty 6 territory, in Alberta, Canada, Turtle Island. We honour the Indigenous Peoples of this land and commit to reconciliation through learning, respect, action, collaboration, and the sharing of education and representation whenever and however we can.

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Hi, I'm Ashley — the queer founder behind Lavender Library Press.

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I'm a privileged French Canadian woman, born in 1985 and raised in a rebellious-yet-privileged family of miners and mineral extractors in Timmins, Ontario. Despite not being wealthy, I attended a progressive French Catholic school and worked hard for everything I've ever earned.... fully aware of, and never hiding behind, my white French Canadian Catholic privilege.

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I grew up on the Mattagami River, Horwood Lake, and what we affectionately called Gilles "Lake" — an old mining pit the city filled with water and handed to us as a beach. (Yes, really. LOL.) But the northern Boreal forest, those spring-fed lakes, and long camping days at the cottage? That was the genuine beauty of my hometown. Before colonization, this land was the traditional territory of many Indigenous Nations, including the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Haudenosaunee, and Lenape Peoples, covered by Treaties 3, 5, and 9, the Robinson-Huron and Robinson-Superior Treaties, the Upper Canada Treaties, and the Haldimand Proclamation.

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I had enormous Canadian pride growing up and travelling the world — something real to brag about, something beautiful to belong to. Thanks to Indigenous and Métis Peoples, growth-mindset teachers, and others who generously shared their knowledge, I learned to collaborate. I learned how to protect Mother Earth and how to critically examine the colonial systems built to empower my French Catholic ancestors while displacing and harming both Indigenous Peoples and the land itself. Because of where I come from, I am committed to the ongoing work of unlearning, accountability, and supporting Canadian Truth and Reconciliation — in action, not just in words.

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I am a forever student and a forever survivor (I was diagnosed with leukemia while living abroad... plot twist I did not see coming). I'm a trained K–12 teacher certified across Catholic and public systems in BC, Alberta, Australia, and beyond. I'm a curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment nerd, a writer, a researcher, and a lifelong, devoted reader and truth seeker.

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I spent over a decade travelling and living across Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australia... including years teaching in China, an experience that fundamentally reshaped how I understand education, community, culture, and belonging.

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When I returned to Canada, I expected to feel at home. Instead, I felt culture shock. I was genuinely surprised by how much resistance, fear, and closed-mindedness still existed around inclusion, diversity, and multicultural lives.

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That disconnect stayed with me. And it lit a spark.

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Lavender Library Press began with Rainbow Soup for the Queer Soul, inspired by the Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul books that meant everything to me growing up in the '90s. Those books made me feel seen, understood, and less alone at a time when I desperately needed that. I wanted to create that same feeling — particularly for 2SLGBTQ+ people who are still too often left out of the story, but for everyone who needs a safe space, regardless of culture, community or category.

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What started as a single book series quickly became something much bigger. That first anthology revealed the power of community storytelling and showed me how deeply ALL people crave spaces where their identities aren't questioned, minimized, or debated... just welcomed.

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From there, Lavender Library Press grew into a creative house dedicated to amplifying marginalized voices and reconnecting them with confidence, compassion, and creative expression. And then it kept growing: into an education movement, an equity movement, an equality movement, a growth mindset movement, a sustainable survival movement, a Canadian Truth and Reconciliation movement...Overall, a very multicultural Canadian movement to do good for all, ensuring we always leave others and our spaces better than when we found them.

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Today, Lavender Library Press is a vibrant hub where stories, journals, and everyday joy, self-care and resilience meet.

 

Here you'll find:

 

✨ Free Resources — downloadable guides, safe space tools, identity spectrums, and educational materials created to support Canadians, 2SLGBTQ+ folks, educators, families, and allies and more at absolutely no cost.

✨ Books — community-recommended booklists, the flagship Rainbow Soup series, and works in progress that centre 2SLGBTQI+ voices, confidence, and real Canadian lived experiences.

✨ Journals & Journaling Bundles — guided queer self-discovery journals, confidence-building prompts, junk journaling kits, and themed bundles designed to support reflection, healing, and growth.

✨ Rainbow Goodies & Merch — mugs, tumblers, stickers, apparel, and colourful accessories that bring pride, softness, and visibility into everyday life.

✨Social Supports and Community Building Resources - fundraising, sharing resources, amplifying voices, giving back all profits to the communities that need it most. 

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The heart of Lavender Library Press is simple, but powerful:​​

✨ Be representation — by creating and sharing projects that help the community openly and proudly.

✨ Share representation — by uplifting community voices, stories, and recommendations.

✨ Encourage representation — so all people feel seen, celebrated, and empowered to take up space, regardless of any culture, community or category we belong to because together we can make the world a better, safer, and happier place FOR ALL HUMANS.

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I didn't start this press just to make books. I started it to give power to the good people who needed a small push: the ones with open eyes and open hearts, but are struggling in the cage that sometimes surrounds us. To those learning, unlearning, growing, and choosing empathy. To anyone who has ever felt like they had to shrink to be safe, despite causing no harm. To anyone who has ever felt alone and no one would ever be there for them....this is for you.

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Every journal filled, every book read, every sticker placed somewhere meaningful, every video posted and shared, every successful fundraiser reminds me why this work matters. Lavender Library Press exists so people can live more authentically, more confidently, and more colourfully — regardless of their path, without apology, and without fear of repercussions they cannot get themselves out of.

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Your story matters. Your creativity matters. Your pride matters. Your community matters. 

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And you are always welcome here.

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#noharmnofoul

-Ashley