
Rise: Extraordinary Women of Colour Who Changed the World
Piney Kesting
Maliha Abidi.
Saqi Books, 2021.
“I hope that Rise shows how these remarkable women are, and always have been, on the frontline of change and creativity."
—From Rise
Growing up, Pakistan-born author/illustrator Maliha Abidi struggled to find stories of women with whom she could identify, finding “little space for more women of colour in mainstream media,” explains Abidi, who decided to correct that deficiency. Following the 2019 success of her first publication, Pakistan for Women, Abidi widened her scope. In short profiles accompanied by colorful portraits, she introduces 100 pioneering, inspirational women from over 30 countries: Esther Afua Ocloo, Ghana’s food-processing pioneer; Negin Khpalwak, Afghanistan’s first female orchestra conductor; Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, founder of the Nigerian Women’s Union; Hayat Sindi, a Saudi Arabian biotech scientist, and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, a US entertainer. “I wanted to create Rise so that women of color could find themselves, and empowerment, in a book,” notes Abidi. “These trailblazing women not only stood up for themselves. They paved the way for so many others.”
—Piney Kesting
You may also be interested in...
Nomadic Chieftain’s Biography Unveils Dynamics of Colonial Expansion
Historian Tetsu Akiyama challenges the narrative that the Kyrgyz were a “static and monotonous ‘traditional’ society’” destined to be subsumed.Children’s Book Documents Rise of Umm Kulthum, Egypt’s Star of the East, As Declaration of National Identity
Illustrator Rhonda Roumani presents an illustrative biography of legendary Egyptian singer and cultural icon Umm Kulthum.Omani Author Zahran Alqasmi's Story About Life, Land and Honey
In his third novel, about a beekeeper living in Oman’s mountainous interior, local author Zahran Alqasmi grapples with a changing landscape around him.