News: Western Mail to Feature Serialisation of Woman's Wales?
On International Women’s Day, our Editor Emma Schofield announces a new serialisation in the Western Mail for her forthcoming edited collection, Woman’s Wales?
As we mark International Women’s Day, Emma Schofield explains plans for a new Western Mail serialisation of her forthcoming edited collection, Woman’s Wales: The Dissonance and Diversity of Devolution in Wales Through the Lives of Women in Wales.
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is to “inspire inclusion”, with the aim of inspiring others to understand and value women’s inclusion in order to forge a better world. So it seems fitting to announce today that extracts from the essays from Woman’s Wales? will be serialised in the Western Mail’s weekend supplement starting this Saturday.
Editing the book has, of course, involved a lot of work (and perhaps one too many packets of digestive biscuits), but it’s also been an enormous privilege. To read, discuss and edit the work of these brilliant writers and commentators as they tell their own stories of how devolution has affected the lives of women in Wales over the past twenty five years has been inspiring and, often, emotional. The essays in the collection offer a personal reflection on how each of those writers feels devolution has shaped, challenged, obstructed or affected areas of our daily life as women in Wales. Ranging from healthcare, maternity, business, climate change, the arts, national identity, sexuality and education, these pieces debate and discuss the issues which have such an impact on our lives.
More importantly, they look to the future, questioning what Wales will look like for future generations of women. Chatting with the contributors, I was struck by how many were writing their pieces with one eye on what they wanted for their children, on the things they believe will make Wales a fairer and more equitable society for us all.
One collection of essays, however powerful those essays are, won’t change everything, but it can start a discussion and it can inspire that debate about how we create a Wales in which everyone is able to feel a sense of belonging and empowerment, in which everyone is able to access the education, healthcare, support and employment they want and need, without barriers. We’ll be out and about at a number of events once the book is released later this spring (starting with the Llandeilo Festival on 28th April) discussing these very issues and I’m already so excited for that debate.
For now, I’d like to say my own thank you to the writers who have contributed so honestly and so poignantly to the collection. They make up a formidable list including Mari Ellis Dunning, Jasmine Donahaye, Norena Shopland, Rae Howells, Cerith Mathias, Michelle Deininger, Grace Quantock, Krystal S. Lowe, Sophie Buchaillard, Nansi Eccott, Jessica Laimann and Yvonne Murphy, and I can’t wait for us to take the discussion forward.
The serialisation in the Western Mail starts this Saturday, with the weekend supplement.
Woman’s Wales? will be released on April 25th and is available to pre-order from Parthian Books now.