Salena Godden to headline evening of readings for A History of Women in 101 Objects

Salena Godden will appear as part of an evening of live readings for the audiobook A History of Women in 101 Objects (Canongate), on International Women’s Day. 

Canongate is partnering with Women of the World (WOW) festivals to celebrate the audiobook’s publication with an event at Shoreditch Town Hall on 8th March, supported by Audible. The event will feature live readings from Godden and other women involved with the audiobook, while WOW founder Jude Kelly will interview its author Annabelle Hirsch. Proceeds from the evening will support the domestic-abuse organisation Refuge and WOW’s Global Network with women, girls and non-binary people. 

The book features performances by 101 women, including Christiane Amanpour, Helen Mirren and Samin Nosrat. The publisher is donating 25% of all proceeds from the audiobook to Refuge UK, with hardback and e-book editions of the book also available. 

Publication will be a co-ordinated international event, with the UK launching alongside partners in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Germany, on 5th March. Penguin Random House in America will launch its audiobook alongside Crown’s print edition, while PRH Canada and Bolinda in Australia and New Zealand will also join after recently confirming deals with Canongate. Kein & Aber, which published the book in German, will be using content from Canongate’s audiobook, along with additional contributions from French, Italian and German readers, to launch a “continental” edition.

“It’s a reflection of the singular brilliance of Annabelle’s book as well as the extraordinary range of talent that has been gathered for this groundbreaking audiobook, that Bolinda and Penguin Random House Canada have both wanted to publish the audio edition on its own in their home markets," Jamie Byng, chief executive of Canongate, said. "Having four separate English-language audio editions of a book and having them launched simultaneously is, as far as I am aware, unprecedented. And helped by the ongoing support of Kein & Aber, we have been able to ensure that these editions also support Refuge, which has been at the heart of this audio project since its inception.”

Rebecca Herrmann, founder and publisher at Bolinda, added: “Being a female-led business, we jumped at the chance to be a part of this world-first audio project. The line-up of narrators is outstanding, and we couldn’t think of a more fabulous audio project to be a part of, led by the passionate team at Canongate. We look forward to bringing our audio expertise and vast distribution channels to this audiobook.”

Sue Kuruvilla, publisher of Random House Canada, added: “We are thrilled to be making history alongside our global publishing partners as the Canadian publisher for this extraordinary audio initiative. From Aretha Franklin to Hannah Arendt, Annabelle Hirsch brought together a tremendously wide-ranging and diverse collection of women’s stories, and now Canongate has assembled a powerhouse ensemble of legendary women to read them."