In celebration of Black History Month, this week’s Feminist Icon blog spotlights on Phillis Wheatley, the first African American, and one of the first women, to publish a collection of poetry in the colonies. Her achievements as a published poet served as a catalyst for the growing antislavery movement across pre-19th century America. Around the age […]

Today, witches form a part of our modern popular culture and appear in some of our favourite films, books and TV shows. Their power gives them a mystique and intrigue that is ever-fascinating but society did not always view witches in this way and the history of the word is far darker than many of […]

Authors have long used the power of fiction to reinvent the image of the witch. In ‘I, Tibuta’, Maryse Condé subverts traditional depictions of witches through a post-colonial lens, while in ‘The House of Spirits’ Isabelle Allende subtly weaves magic into the day-to-day experiences of one family across multiple generations. Read on to learn more […]

If you were lucky enough to snap up one of our Season of the Witch boxes, you may have spotted a page in the magazine dedicated to feminist Halloween reads to dip into throughout October. If the gorgeous book covers weren’t enough to draw you in, here is a bit more information about each of […]

Books That Matter is all about introducing you to stories and characters that will empower and inspire you. These are some of our absolute favourite Strong Female Leads! Literature has provided us with a wealth of kickass female protagonists whose wit, intelligence and resilience have inspired readers for years, decades and even centuries. Highlighting all […]

We love Elif Shafak, if that wasn’t entirely clear… This month, in partnership with Penguin, we are celebrating all things Elif Shafak. If you’re searching for a truly inspirational woman, look no further. Here are 5 reasons you should get to know her, if you don’t already. She’s an International Feminist Icon Elif is an […]

The second in our series, in this blog we spotlight Audre Lorde, the American writer, feminist, and civil rights activist. Self-described as “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet”, Lorde’s work continues to inspire us as she combatted racism, sexism and homophobia through her writing. Audre Lorde was a 20th century American writer and poet, born in […]

Translation Partnerships in Focus: Han Kang/Deborah Smith & Elena Ferrante/Ann Goldstein I imagine the process of assigning a translator to a book must be a bit like matchmaking. Rather than deciding if two people might have a romantic connection, a publisher must ask themselves whether the translator will connect with the text. Will they be […]

It’s scary to think that lockdown has made that magical feeling of turning a corner and spotting a bookish treasure trove a thing of the past. Wandering through the rows and rows of those undiscovered stories calling your name seems like a dream away. What’s even scarier is the fact that this feeling may never […]

Despite the upending of pretty much every part of our lives, COVID-19 has not taken away our love of books. Wonderful bookworms everywhere have been sharing their favourite reads, new releases and read-alongs with people all over the world. As August is Women in Translation month we thought we’d share some uplifting stories of how […]