Strong, gorgeous women!

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A few Canadian writers to look out for:

Ivan E. Coyote



She was born in the Yukon, Canada.

Ivan E. Coyote is acclaimed as one of North America's most beguiling storytellers;
Ivan's honest, down-to-earth tales, many of which are based on personal experience,
are compelling for their simple human truths. Her 2005 story collection, Loose End,
was shortlisted for the prestigious Ferro-Grumley Award for Women's Fiction. [arsenalpulp.com]


Coyote self-defines as “a primarily estrogen-based organism” but dresses male; ...

Her short stories, largely autobiographical pieces, are all about connection — or, sometimes, missed connections.
They’re about fitting in, or not. They’re about being mistaken for a man by little old ladies in gas-station restrooms,
and about being mistaken for a girl by one’s own family. ...

The wonder of Coyote’s stories, though, is that even the straightest reader will be touched by their generous heart,
and by the seeming immediacy of their kitchen-table clarity. [straight.com]

I own every book by this author - and especially love her very refreshing collection of short stories. 
Books by Ivan E. include: Bow Grip (novel), One man's trash, Close to Spider Man, Loose End, The Slow Fix (all short story collections).
I read Close to Spider Man from start to finish in one sitting.  Couldn't put it down. 

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These women are really wonderful! Thank you!! All day I have been listening to the music of Michelle Shocked and loving it!!

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For some time now, I've wanted to build a collection of African Women herstories.   I'm working on it.

I'll begin this series with a poem I wrote a while ago - inspired by one African woman in particular, whose life touched me immensely. 
Her name was FannyAnn V. Eddy.

Over African Sky

sister calling out
pushing her way up
to the big white clouds thrown free
like a soft blanket over African sky;
singing, chanting
till her lungs burn wild with joy;
just like in days past
when she kicked, marched proud
on hot eggshells
in a Freetown laced with fear

sister calling out
queer as can be, be not alone;
sister speaking up the truths,
all the while hearing
the crackle of brittle shells
beneath her sturdy feet;
sister pressing on,
hoping to taste another
sunset and sunrise anew..

sister calling out,
alone in the shadow of hatred so thick
one by one, they raped her
they stabbed her
they broke her neck
they sliced off her tongue
they gouged out her eyes..
that she may not see
that she may not speak
that she may not live

sister calling out,
soaring high and swift
like a shooting star...
guess what,
she speaks with a thousand tongues,
she sees through a million eyes,
she thrives in a thousand hearts..
for we have witnessed the stains
of fresh blood on broken eggshells

sister calling out
she saw
she spoke
she lived
she died
she sings -
'they can not slaughter us all'



~*~*~*~


Fannyann Viola Eddy (1974–2004)





She was an activist for lesbian and gay rights in her native Sierra Leone and throughout Africa.
In 2002, she founded the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association, the first of its kind in Sierra Leone.
She traveled widely, addressing the United Nations and other international groups.
In April 2004, she advocated the passing of the Brazil Resolution at the UN in Geneva.

"We live in fear within our communities," Eddy testified before the U.N.,
"where we face constant harassment and violence from neighbors and others.
Their homophobic attacks go unpunished by authorities, further encouraging their discriminatory
and violent treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people."

Eddy was murdered on September 28, 2004, shortly after giving a speech about the threats of violence
faced by lesbians and gays in Sierra Leone. Eddy left behind a son and her partner Esther Chikalipa. [wikip.]

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Helen Suzman (1917 – January 2009)





She was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician.
She was also was one of the few white lawmakers to fight against the injustices of racist rule.

Suzman fought a long and lonely battle in the South African parliament against government repression
of the country's black majority. She first visited Nelson Mandela,
leader of the then-banned African National Congress, in prison in 1967 at the start of a long friendship.

For 13 years, Helen Suzman was the sole opposition lawmaker in South Africa's parliament,
raising her voice time after time against the introduction of racist legislation by the National Party government.

Born in the mining town of Germiston east of Johannesburg to parents who had fled anti-Semitism in Russia,
Suzman's childhood was the charmed one of most whites — tennis, swimming lessons and private schooling.
It was only when she got to university and studied the laws that were being put in place to govern black people
that she says she was "roused to the discrimination."

From then on she began to speak out against the conditions under which black people were forced to live,
their lack of job opportunities and especially the dreaded pass system that restricted their movement.
Her greatest achievement was helping to ensure that the pass laws were abolished. [msnbc.com]

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African Herstory can not be complete without her....

Miriam Makeba (1932 - 2008)



She was a South African civil rights activist and Grammy Award winning artist often referred to as Mama Afrika.
She was a Legendary voice of the African continent and symbol of the fight against apartheid.

Miriam Makeba is chief among those who have proclaimed the experiences of black South Africans.
In the 1960's, her outspoken opposition to the repressive political climate in South Africa
set the stage for harsh government retaliation. Makeba's call for an end to apartheid became increasingly powerful,
and her recordings were subsequently banned in South Africa. More than three decades of exile began for the singer in 1960,
when her passport was invalidated by the South African government.

Throughout a career spanning more than three decades, she established herself as a powerful voice in the fight against apartheid.
Makeba is credited with bringing the rhythmic and spiritual sounds of Africa to the West.
Her music is a soulful mix of jazz, blues, and traditional African folk songs shaded with potent political overtones.
Using music as a primary forum for her social concerns, she is a lasting symbol in the fight for racial equality
and has come to represent the pain of all South Africans living in exile. [musicianguide.com]

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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie





She is an acclaimed Nigerian writer. She comes from Abba in Anambra State, southeast Nigeria.
At the age of 19, she left Nigeria and moved to the United States.

Her first novel, Purple Hibiscus (a profoundly moving novel about a Nigerian family struggling
under the cruelty of a raging, evangelist father), was published in 2003 and won the Best First Book award
in the 2005 Commonwealth Writers' Prize.  Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, named for the flag of the short-lived Biafran nation,
is set before and during the Biafran War. It was published in 2006 and was awarded the 2007 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Chimamanda is a 2008 MacArthur Fellow. [wikip.]

For links to some of her works - poetry, short stories and novel excerpts...  http://www.l3.ulg.ac.be/adichie/cnalinks.html

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Simphiwe Dana




BORN in the Transkei, Eastern Cape, South Africa, Simphiwe Dana entered South African music mainstream
in 2004 with her debut album Zandisile.

Described as a young Miriam Makeba, Dana’s voice transports you to that golden era in South Africa’s history.
Her music is rich with warm harmonies from her backing vocalists and stylishly held together by her band's jazz grooves.
Simphiwe is the winner of 7 South African Music Awards (SAMA) for her two albums "Zandisile" (2004)
and "The One Love Movement on Bantu Biko Street" (2006) released in South Africa by Gallo Records.
She is currently performing in South Africa and Europe and preparing material for her next album due for release in 2009. [simphiwedana.com]


"Ndiredi" (from her album "Zandisile")

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK4DoHE7VF0[/youtube]

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Meseret Defar






Born into a family of 7 in 1983 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Meseret Defar grew up as an active child
either while doing household chores or out shopping at the market.  Later she started participating in running competitions
at school and completed most of the races with promising results. 

At age 14, Meseret was probably one of the youngest runners to be included in the Ethiopian Banks club system in 1998.
Further, although most successful Ethiopian runners come from rural parts of the country, Messeret flourished
as a long distance runner to become the first and only female Ethiopian Olympic champion from Addis Ababa.

Messeret’s continuing achievements as an athlete are well known and include winning gold at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens
in the 5000m race as well as medal positions in numerous other athletic events. 
Small wonder that she was voted Female World Athlete of the Year in 2007 and is rightly considered to be
one of the most promising female athletes in Ethiopia. 

But Messeret’s great story isn’t all on the track field.  After being selected as the Honorary National Ambassador in Ethiopia
for UNFPA in 2004, she has been active in championing the causes of women, youth and the prevention of HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia.
Married to the former Junior Banks foot ball player, Tewodros Hailu, she now strives to add more to her glittering career
both as an iconic athlete and social activist. [addisconnexion.com]

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African Herstories series contd..

Angélique Kidjo
Singer, songwriter




Kidjo was born in Cotonou, Benin. Her father, is from the Fon people of Ouidah
and her mother from the Yoruba people. By the time she was six, Kidjo was performing with her mother's theatre troupe,
giving her an early appreciation for traditional music and dance.

She mixes the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of
American R&B, funk and jazz as well as European and Latin American influences.

Through her music, Angelique exalts individual cultures while underlining their universal similarities
showing that the world is far more culturally connected than it may appear. [bbc.co.uk]

Her latest album, Djin Djin was released in May of 2007. 
It won Best Contemporary World Music Album at the 2008 Grammy Awards.



Angelique Kidjo - Wombo Lombo
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlKquAsj6JQ[/youtube]

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Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf




Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was born in central Monrovia, Liberia in 1938 and has led a distinguished career
spanning nearly four decades in the private and public domain in Liberia and internationally.
She is the current President of Liberia.

Johnson-Sirleaf is often referred to as the "Iron Lady", and she is Africa's first elected female head of state.

President Johnson Sirleaf is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders,
an International network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers
whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action
on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development. [wikip.]