IWD 2021: Celebrating Women’s Stories

Posted on March 8, 2021

Happy International Women’s Day 2021

As an all female team here at Saraband, we are particularly fond of this one. So we’re taking today to celebrate all the women that we’ve published over the past 27 years  – women who have played a huge part in shaping Saraband. With a special shout-out to J.A. Mensah and Jill Hopper who have both published their debuts this year!

We’d like to reiterate our congratulations to those of our female authors with books that won prizes. We are proud to have published all our authors, and today isn’t about awards – but we also know that historically prize lists have been dominated by male authors. So take a bow, all of you literary winners! Sara Allerton, Karen Lloyd, Mandy Haggith, Uuganaa Ramsay, Chitra Ramaswamy, Ever Dundas, Shelley Day and J.A. Mensah.

We’ve created a list on Bookshop.org to showcase our Saraband Women, where you can browse through books written by an array of talented women – take a look.

International Women’s Day: A Playlist

And if you’re looking for a soundtrack for your Monday, then we’ve compiled a collection of songs to celebrate our brilliant female authors and characters. Can you name all the books these songs link to (in name or lyrics?) Listen here.

International Women’s Day: Celebrating Women’s Stories

IWD 2021 is a time to reflect on how far we’ve come, to celebrate the wonderful women around us, and to educate ourselves on how far we’ve still got to go. So, we’ve also curated a reading list of some of our favourite feminist fiction and non-fiction from writers who identify as female. These stories educate, inspire and celebrate women in all our wonderful forms. Read more women here.

It’s important to remember that International Women’s Day isn’t just a celebration – it originated as a protest in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.

It’s good to celebrate the achievements we have made in the women’s movement, but it’s even more important that we stay conscious of the road ahead of us and make sure we’re taking action to achieve change.

Head over to UN Women UK for ways to take action this IWD #ActforEqual