Virago launches #BooksforChange for International Women’s Day

Virago is launching a month-long photo challenge and social media campaign #BooksforChange to support International Women’s Day on 8th March. 

The campaign is designed to champion women writers while coinciding with the Women of the World Festival, scheduled 7th - 12th March at the Southbank Centre, an event celebrating the achievements of women and examining the obstacles keeping them from fulfilling their potential.

Inspired by the official hashtag of this year’s International Women’s day #BeBoldForChange - as well as its own "trailblazing" authors and fictional heroines - #BooksforChange is a 31-day photo challenge. Every day throughout March, Virago will post a photo of a Virago book representing a different theme, related to the role books play in women’s lives, on its Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts. In response, the public will then be encouraged to share their own photos of "brilliant books by female authors" related to the theme - and not necessarily published by Virago, in hopes the campaign will be "as wide-ranging and inclusive as possible".

Spanning the breadth of Virago’s list, from the Virago Modern Classics, to its children’s publishing and frontlist fiction and non-fiction, books it will post out include The Book That Made Me A Feminist, Women in War, Books to Open Your Eyes and Redefining He and She.

The campaign will be launched on 1st March and is said to have the support of Foyles. It follows the social campaign for MP Jess Philips' book, Everywoman (Hutchinson), in February that saw over 6,000 tweets sent with the hashtag #Everywoman to "shout out" inspiring women, with a book donated to domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid for every tweet sent.

Virago also this week partnered with The Pool on a new crime writer award, a competition to find a new female crime writer for Virago's list.