We continue to live in a world that limits, silences, and erases the experiences of girls and women, and the examples of this are glaring on both a personal and global scale. It feels taxing in this moment to write a blog post for “Women’s History Month” when women’s rights are more in peril than ever.
Fortunately, we also live in a world where women—even when facing grave injustice—distinguish themselves through their voice, their art, their autonomy, their community-mindedness, and their ingenuity. Despite ongoing erasure of our histories and dreams, women continue to rise. The effort is worldwide and across time, and it’s happening here locally, too.
The YWCA of Spokane will celebrate nine Inland Northwest women on March 6th at their Women of Achievement Awards. These women, such as NAACP Spokane President Lisa Gardner and Manzanita House co-founder Patricia Castaneda, are changing lives for people within our communities—women making history as we speak.
For more local resources, check out the Washington State Women’s Commission, which connects to multiple organizations supporting women here in Spokane County.
Girls and women do matter, we are allowed to take up space, we can make a difference. We belong, and we have a right to belong with our entire complex selfhood respected and honored, body and mind, historically and now.
The following booklist of newly published titles reflects the historical and ongoing efforts of women fighting for safety, belonging, and justice. All of these books are available for checkout from Spokane Public Library.
Seeds of Discovery: How Barbara McClintock Used Corn and Curiosity to Solve a Science Mystery and Win a Nobel Prize, by Lori Alexander, art by Rebecca Santo
The quirky and singular Nobel Prize winner Barbara McClintock, a founder of modern genetics who did things her own way, is honored in this lively young STEM biography by Sibert Honor winner Lori Alexander.
Twice Enslaved: Liberty and Justice for Henrietta Wood by Selene Castrovilla, illustrated by Erin K. Robinson
Here is the story of Henrietta Wood, who was enslaved twice—but who demanded justice and was awarded the largest reparations ever granted for enslavement. This nonfiction book for ages 9-12 puts a human face on the current issue of reparations.
Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice by Virginia Roberts Giuffre
The unforgettable memoir by the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the woman who dared to take on Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. “Make no mistake: this is a book about power, corruption, industrial-scale abuse and the way in which institutions sided with the perpetrator over his victims…But it is also a book about how a young woman becomes a hero…Important [and] courageous.” —The Guardian
The Persians: A Novel by Sanam Mahloudji
A darkly funny, life-affirming “joy of a debut novel” (David Mitchell) that follows five women from three generations of a once illustrious Iranian family as their lives are turned upside down.
Malinalli: A Novel by Veronica Chapa
A “wild, unforgettable adventure” (Reyna Grande, author of A Dream Called Home) about the triumphs and sorrows of one of the most controversial and misunderstood women in Mexico’s history and mythology, perfect for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Gods of Jade and Shadow and Zoraida Córdova’s The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina.
How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy’s Guide to Silencing Women by Zoe Venditozzi & Claire Mitchell
Scotland, 1563: Crops failed. People starved. And the Devil’s influence was stronger than ever—at least, that’s what everyone believed. If you were a woman living in Scotland during this turbulent time, there was a very good chance that you, or someone you knew, would be tried as a witch.
Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home, and Belonging by Tara Roberts
One woman’s epic journey to trace the global slave trade across the Atlantic Ocean in this searing memoir for fans of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild and Jesmyn Ward’s Men We Reaped.
The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story by Pagan Kennedy
Marty Goddard dreamed up a new crime-solving tool-a kit that could help rape survivors fight for justice. This thrilling investigation tells the story of the troubled, heroic woman who kicked off a feminist revolution in forensics and then vanished into obscurity.
Without Fear: Black Women and the Making of Human Rights by Keisha N. Blain
Even before they were recognized as citizens of the United States, Black women understood that the fights for civil and human rights were inseparable. Over the course of two hundred years, they were at the forefront of national and international movements for social change, weaving connections between their own and others’ freedom struggles around the world.
Waiting Game: The Untold Story of the Women Who Served the Tudor Queens by Nicola Clark
A colorful and authoritative narrative history of the often-overlooked—yet hugely influential—figures of the Tudor court: the ladies-in-waiting.
The Eights: A Novel by Joanna Miller
Following the unlikely friendship of four women in the first female class at Oxford, their unshakeable bond in the face of male contempt, and their coming of age in a world forever changed by World War I.
To the Moon and Back: A Novel by Eliana Ramage
In this dazzlingly powerful story of family, ambition and belonging, one young woman’s obsessive quest to become the first Cherokee astronaut irrevocably alters the fates of the people she loves most.
Terry Dactyl: A Memoir by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
From iconic author and activist Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore comes a breathless search for intimacy and connection, ranging from club culture to the art world, from the AIDS crisis to COVID-19.
The Sea Captain’s Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at the Bottom of the World by Tilar J. Mazzeo
The true story of the first female captain of a merchant ship and her treacherous navigation of Antarctica’s deadly waters, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Widow Clicquot.
People of Means: A Novel by Nancy Johnson
From the acclaimed author of The Kindest Lie, a propulsive novel about a mother and daughter, Freda and Tulip, each seeking justice and following their dreams during moments of social reckoning-1960s Nashville and 1992 Chicago.
Bog Queen: A Novel by Anna North
In the gorgeous new novel by the New York Times bestselling author of Outlawed, “a strangely well-preserved Iron Age body turns up in an English bog, and the American forensic anthropologist on the case is thrust into an absorbing, complex mystery” (People Magazine).
Homeseeking: A Novel by Karissa Chen
From WWII to 2008, this searing story follows one couple across sixty years as world events pull them together and apart, illuminating the Chinese diaspora and exploring what it means to find home far from your homeland.
