Breaking the bias with books

“I am a Woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

that’s me”

- Maya Angelou

Today we celebrate International Women’s Day. The month of March we celebrate Women’s History Month. Both an opportunity to recognise the achievements and incredible contributions of women across the globe.

Throughout history women have fought for equality, to have their voices heard. To make their mark culturally, socially and politically. Let us praise these achievements and see just how far we have come but also, how much further we still have to go for a fair society for everyone.

“Our histories cling to us. We are shaped by where we come from” - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

?We focus this year on #BreakTheBias where we are encouraging stereotypes to be questioned and challenging the inequality that still faces women today. Even in the literary world women have faced barriers throughout history in order to break that mould, that stereotypical view of what women can do and what women can achieve. We can achieve anything we set out to!

Did you know the Bront? sisters used the male pseudonyms Currer, Acton and Ellis Bell in order to be published? You may think George Eliot, who wrote Middlemarch, was a man? Wrong. It was a woman; Mary Ann Evans. Louisa May Alcott, of Little Women fame, wrote under the pen name of A.M Barnard in order to write her gothic thrillers as they were deemed far too unladylike for a female of that era.

There are also certain genres that are often construed as “male dominated”?including science fiction. Alice Bradley Sheldon decided to write by the male name of James Tiptree Jr. in order for her writing to be taken seriously. Then along came the likes of Octavia Butler and Ursula Le Guin who proved that female authors can be just as impactful in these types of works.

So, let us celebrate these female writers that have helped shatter that glass ceiling. That have brought some outstanding stories both fiction and non-fiction into society and told their stories. These are stories to be passed down to our children, to encourage them to read and tell their stories too.

?The following recommendations are not only my own but from friends, family and colleagues. All keen to shout about the books they have read, written by women, but for everyone to enjoy and learn from.

?Classics / Modern Classics

Little Women – Louise May Alcott, published by various

The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood, Vintage Publishing

The Color Purple – Alice Walker, Orion Publishing Co

The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath, Faber & Faber

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Fiction

Oranges are Note the Only Fruit – Jeanette Winterson, Vintage Publishing

The Vanishing Half – Brit Bennett, Little, Brown Book Group

Dear Mrs Bird – AJ Pearce, Pan Macmillan

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Contemporary Fiction

Queenie – Candice Carty-Williams, Orion Publishing Co

Girl, Woman, Other – Bernardine Evaristo, Penguin Books Ltd

Grown Ups – Marian Keyes, Penguin Books Ltd

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Sci-Fi / Fantasy

Circe – Madeline Miller, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Kindred – Octavia Butler, Headline Publishing Group

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Non-fiction

Becoming – Michelle Obama, Penguin Books Ltd

We Should All Be Feminists – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, HarperCollins Publishers

Invisible Women – Caroline Criado Perez, Vintage Publishing

My Own Words – Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Simon & Schuster

Working Hard Hardly Working – Grace Beverley, Cornerstone

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As always if you have any of your own recommendations please do let me know, always happy to chat books.

In the meantime, happy reading.

Your resident bookworm