Kate Mosse: Women in History

In January 2021, in the midst of the Delta variant wave of Covid-19 and on the verge of the second full national lockdown, novelist and Women’s Prize Founder Kate Mosse decided to do something radical: she put a call out on social media asking for people – anyone – around the world to nominate extraordinary women whose stories needed to be told.

The idea for the #WomanInHistory campaign was born.

Within days she had received thousands of nominations. The campaign snowballed and soon she was inundated. Some names were familiar, but many more were women she had never heard of. Nominations came from all over the world: Iran, Syria, Algeria, Brazil, Russia….

Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World is published just after Kate appears at Birmingham Literature Festival – early copies will be available from our bookshop on the day of the event. Through these stories, you’ll meet nearly 1,000 women whose names deserve to be better known.

Chaired by Mary Ann Sieghart.

About the speaker:

Kate Mosse OBE is the author of nine novels & short story collections, including the No 1 bestselling The Burning Chambers Series as well as the multimillion-selling Languedoc Trilogy. Her books have been translated into 38 languages and published in more than 40 countries. She has also written four works of non-fiction – including An Extra Pair of Hands (Wellcome Collection, 2021) – four plays, contributed essays and introductions to classic novels and collections. She is the Founder of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and sits on the Executive Committee of Women of the World. She is the Founder of the global campaign – #WomanInHistory – launched in January 2021 to honour, celebrate and promote women’s achievements throughout history and from every corner of the world. She was awarded an OBE in 2013 for services to literature and women and was named Woman of the Year for her service to the arts in the Everywoman Awards.