Canongate snaps up Hirsch's 'vital' exploration of women's history

Canongate has acquired A History of Women in 101 Objects by Annabelle Hirsch, a translated work of non-fiction exploring the legacy of women’s fight for freedom through inanimate objects.

Senior commissioning editor Helena Gonda acquired world English rights from Ronit Zafran at Kein & Aber. Canongate will publish in hardback, e-book, and audio in September 2023.

"What do handprints on early cave paintings tell us about the role of women in hunting? What does a mobile phone have to do with femicides? Or Kim Kardashian’s diamond ring with Elena Ferrante," the synopsis reads.

"In A History of Women in 101 Objects, Hirsch offers a compendium of female history in all its facets. She gathers objects from areas including fashion, medicine and art to offer a new account of female history which testifies to our desire for freedom. She demonstrates how some items reflect the myths that have long been used to reduce women’s power and in doing so reflects their status as eminently political."

Hirsch has German and French heritage. She studied art history, dramatics and philosophy in Munich and Paris, and worked as a freelance journalist for FAS and FAZ, ZeitOnline, and several other magazines. She writes short stories and translates French literature.

"Writing a history of women through objects enabled me to enter intimate spaces and tell an alternative and lively story where my love for the so-called incidental, for details and anecdotes meet my interest in the daily life, the thoughts and feelings of the women of the past," she said. "I am extremely happy and pleased to be published by Canongate."

Gonda added: "There are many ways to tell the history of women, and in this brilliant book Annabelle Hirsch takes a hundred everyday objects that speak to women’s desire for freedom through their rebellious acts, and encourages readers to encounter them anew. I’m looking forward to introducing this vital and important collection to readers next autumn."