Harvill Secker pre-empts investigation into women-led communities by Mohan

Harvill Secker has pre-empted a “vital investigation” of women-led communities worldwide and what they can teach us from BBC global correspondent Megha Mohan. 

Senior editor Ellie Steel acquired world all-languages rights for No Man’s Land: Lessons from Societies Where Women Make the Rules from Sabhbh Curran at Curtis Brown in a “significant” pre-empt. It will publish in spring 2026.

“Imagine a world in which women have all the power,” the publisher teased. “A world in which they work together to shape their rules, societies and futures. In myth, literature and throughout history such groups have always existed, and today all-women communities thrive all over the world. In this urgent and ground-breaking book, Megha Mohan goes in search of the roots of these societies, discovering a vibrant, worldwide history brought together here for the first time."

Mohan uses her great-grandmother’s matrilineal Nair community as a starting point, before introducing readers to some of the countless women-only groups living on their own terms, often operating discretely from the male-dominated cultural and political mainstream. From the Megalia feminist "trolls" of South Korea, to womyn’s groups in the American Deep South, millionaire girlbosses with their own island in the Baltic Sea to the survivors of sexual violence outside Nairobi, Kenya, No Man’s Land “will offer a global look at women’s communities and why they matters for us all”, Harvill Secker said. 

Mohan commented: “The women-led communities, whose stories will feature in this book, have opened my eyes to alternate ways of living and leading. I am so excited to share their lessons, and humbled to do so alongside my brilliant (women-led) teams at Harvill Secker and Curtis Brown.” 

Steel added: “Megha draws on an incredible range of research and on-the-ground reporting, and it’s a testament to her care, commitment and inclusive approach that she’s often secured first interview with the communities she meets, particularly those underserved by the media and society. No Man’s Land champions remarkable groups of women worldwide, showing the power and possibility of new ways of living when women lead.”