Smart Women Everywhere: Women Calling the Shots in Global Fiction

Therese Bohman, Jasmin Darznik, Rachael Myrow, Shobha Rao, Gunnhild Øyehaug

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Strong women are nothing new in literature, which has inspired centuries of women to speak up. And no woman is a victim when she’s the one telling the story. From Iran to Sweden, these writers and their female characters show how it’s done. Jasmin Darznik’s debut novel, “Song of a Captive Bird,” is an homage to Forugh Farrokhzad, the poet many say brought feminism to Iran. Therese Bohman tells a familiar story of a brilliant woman surrounded by male fragility in her novel “Eventide.” Shobha Rao creates a transcendent story of female friendship in “Girls Burn Brighter,” which Vogue called “incandescent… a searing portrait of what feminism looks like in much of the world.” Norwegian writer Gunnhild Oyehaug, lauded by the New Yorker as a short story master, comes a sensual and contemplative collection of gorgeous, female-centric short stories.

With the support of the Norway House Foundation, NORLA - Norwegian Literature Abroad, the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, and the Consulate General of Sweden in San Francisco