17 March,2023 10:28 AM IST | Mumbai | Fiona Fernandez
Jhumpa Lahiri (left) Maya Angelou. Pics courtesy/Wikimedia commons
The world has rarely been kind to empowered women, since the beginning of time. And history will tell you that whenever this tribe found a medium to express their beliefs and independent views, they were pushed into a corner. As centuries rolled on, such ballsy women found a sharper, more vocal tool, the pen, and there's been no turning back since then.
Bookish Broads is an ode to all those women - past and present - who've defied convention, gender and gone ahead to write their own rulebook. In fact, this book's tagline - Women who wrote themselves into history - is enough of a teaser of what to expect from the 60-plus mini bios that feature in the book. It has been written by Lauren Marino and colourfully illustrated by Alexandra Kilburn.
We loved the broad [excuse the pun] and diverse focus on all kinds of literary figures and geniuses, from Murasaki Shikibu, who invented the novel in 10th century Japan, to the Brontë sisters who fought societal pressure to write their novels and Maya Angelou, the voice of women's empowerment in the US, and finally, to new-age feminist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
There are a few predictable mentions too - JK Rowling, Margaret Atwood, Margaret Mitchell - who make their way into this curation. As an Indian reader and considering our literary heft across countless regional languages apart from English, the lone mention of Jhumpa Lahiri came as a major disappointment. The Further Reading list at the end of each bio and visual references of the writing desks of a few icons, add much value to this bookshelf keepsake.
