These authors are writing stories about inspiring women
For Uruguayan journalist Soledad Gago, becoming a feminist was not the end of a journey, but is a non-ending journey she’s still on. Over the years, Gago became more and more interested in issues such as gender violence in South America and began writing about it for both her blog and the newspaper for which she works. Because of this work, a publisher contacted her and worked with her to write Uruguayas Rebeldes (Uruguayan Rebels), a book of 45 short stories about 45 different women who changed Uruguay somehow. The book was published a few months ago.
A cooperative publisher not far from Gago’s home country has been publishing similar books since 2015; the Argentinian publisher Chirimbote has produced over 12 editions of their Antiprincesas book series (Anti Princesses). The books are created by author Nadia Fink and illustrator Pitu Saa, who first worked together on a book about Frida Kahlo, which became the first in the Antiprincesas series. “Our primary goal is to approximate the biography of Latin American women to children,” explained Fink to The FBomb.
A year before the Antiprincesas Frida Kahlo book was launched in Argentina, in Spain, another writer named Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara published the first edition of Little People, Big Dreams, a collection of stories of remarkable people that also focused on women; Coco Chanel was the focus of the first book. Vegara’s idea for these books was born shortly after her nieces. “I started looking for books for them and soon realized that everything was pretty much the same as in the 1970s, when I was born — a lot of princesses, a lot of saving princesses, and things like that,” Vegara told The FBomb. When she couldn’t find a story with an empowered female protagonist, Vegara decided to write it herself. Over the years, the project has grown: 34 books have been published in the series and have been translated into over 20 languages.
Perhaps the most internationally known book series aligned with the purpose of inspiring girls is Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls co-authored by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo and first released in 2016. Elena Favilli is also the founder and chief creative officer of Rebel Girls, the organization behind the books, which include a second anthology and other publications under the same brand. All the illustrations that accompany the tales have been created by women as well.
Favilli told The FBomb that the main purpose of Rebel Girls and their products is to boost young girls’ confidence by introducing them to extraordinary women from all over the world. She quickly realized that she was not alone in pursuing this goal: The first book was published thanks to a crowdfunding campaign that raised $1.2 million on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, becoming the most crowdfunded literary project in history. Today more than 5.5 million copies of Rebel Girls books have been sold worldwide.
One of the most challenging steps for all creators of books in this vein was selecting the women who have been included in them. The team behind Antirpincesas wanted to include Latin American women who have accomplished historic feats. “We wanted to get away from the classic stories where women have to wait for someone else to resolve things while being quiet and beautiful. We also look for characters from different countries to show our continent’s sisterhood,” explained Fink. Diversity of accomplishments was also important to Gago, who said she “wanted to add women from different backgrounds so that it wouldn’t be just about culture or just about sports.” Vegara chose the stories included in Little People, Big Dreams based on people she would have loved to know as a child and people who demonstrate the idea that anyone can make their dreams come true.
Similarly, Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls intended to represent girls more positively in children’s literature. “We try to ensure that our books are representative of all types of women, from all over the world, who have embarked upon a multitude of different careers,” explained Favilli. Girls who read the books “can find their own confidence, so long as they’re given the proper tools to pursue their dreams,” she added.
To bring these women’s stories to light, the Antiprincesas team normally relies on historical documents, interviews, and other resources. “Sometimes we don’t find the materials we thought of. Sometimes we find opposite opinions,” shared Fink. One of the latest books of the collection is about Micaela García, a young woman who was a victim of femicide two years ago. García was a feminist activist, and sharing her story in the book was the result of collaborative work with her family and community.
In the case of the Rebel Girls books, Favilli says that their editorial team conducts extensive research and also takes a lot of suggestions from readers. Often, though, the writers want to feature women who haven’t been written about much, so uncovering enough information to write a story can be hard. That is something that Vegara is also very familiar with. “I’m writing right now the story of a woman who lived in the 1700s. There’s little information about her, about how she was. Was she shy or the opposite? It’s difficult to know,” she said. When working with more contemporary people, Vegara likes to listen to them being interviewed.
Gago shared that during her research, discovering documents and reading about these fantastic women’s lives made her angry. “We’ve always been in the background, at men’s disposal. Historically, there were women fighting as feminists, but just recently we’re getting more relevance,” she said. The author of Antiprincesas agrees that women’s stories have been marginalized by history, since those in power are usually the ones recording it — and they have been almost always men. “Our contribution is connected to that, to review history and change the paradigm of how stories have been told,” Fink explained.
Independent of their careers and paths, all the women in these book series have overcome adversities to achieve great things. Favilli highlights that women are faced with numerous road blockers when it comes to pursuing their dreams. For her, it’s important to recognize the ones that have broken the glass ceiling and paved the way for the girls of today.
Some time ago, Vegara received a postcard from a very young girl saying she loved fossils and asking the writer to tell the story of Mary Anning, an English woman who became famous for finding dinosaur fossils. That’s precisely the book Vegara is working on right now, and she keeps the postcard in her desk as a reminder of how many children and parents are being touched by her work. Gago agrees that writing this kind of story is the most rewarding experience. “It has another purpose for me as a woman and also for my mom, my sisters, my grandma, my girlfriends… At the end of the day, seeing it published and getting such a positive response is so gratifying,” she shared.
These writers keep working, and all of them told The FBomb that more amazing stories about amazing women are coming soon. “The world has always spent less time recognizing women; we have years and years of catch-up to do,” Favilli concluded.
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