Hillary and Chelsea Clinton write 'Gutsy Women' book for S&S

Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton will publish The Book of Gutsy Women: Favourite Stories of Courage and Resilience on 1st October 2019, with Simon & Schuster.

Carolyn Reidy, president and c.e.o. of S&S, acquired world publishing rights in all formats of the book from attorney Robert B Barnett of Williams & Connolly, who represents Secretary Clinton. Chelsea Clinton is represented by Tara Kole. The Book of Gutsy Women will be edited by S&S v.p. and executive editor Priscilla Painton, and also by Fritha Saunders, editorial director of non-fiction, in the UK. S&S UK publishes the book simultaneously with S&S and its international companies in Australia, Canada, and India, and also as an audiobook read by the authors.

“Celebrating the women who have inspired them throughout their lives, The Book of Gutsy Women will feature portraits of more than 100 women, celebrating the histories that all too often get overlooked or are left unwritten,” the synopsis reads. “The women featured in the book range from Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old climate activist whose Asperger’s syndrome has shaped her advocacy, to Sor Juan Inés de la Cruz, a 17th-century nun and poet whose outspoken views on women’s role in society scandalized audiences.”

S&S UK said that other stories include: Mary Edwards Walker, a Civil War surgeon who was arrested more than once for wearing trousers; Marie Curie and her daughter Irène, who worked side-by-side in their laboratory; Rosa May Billinghurst, the suffragette who lost the use of her legs and campaigned in a tricycle for the right of women to vote, Shirley Chisholm, who ran for US president in 1972; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; the first woman to lead an African country; Manal al-Sharif, who filmed herself driving a car in defiance of Saudi custom in 2011 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, whose observations about feminism “have changed the conversation” as well as Ellen DeGeneres, “who broke barriers in media and entertainment while making audiences laugh” along with “heroines in the Secretary and Chelsea’s own circles of friends and family, and more”.

Hillary Clinton said: “Each of these women has fought and won the kinds of victories that pave the way for progress for all of us. To us, they are all gutsy women—leaders with the courage to stand up to the status quo, ask hard questions, and get the job done. This book is a continuation of a conversation Chelsea and I have been having since she was a little girl, and we are excited to welcome others into that conversation.” Her most recent memoir, What Happened, was published by S&S in 2017.

Her daughter Chelsea Clinton added: “The gutsy women in this book share a fierce optimism that their work and lives will make a difference in the world. And, they’re right. We hope readers will draw strength from their stories as we have, because if history shows one thing, it’s that the world needs more gutsy women.” Her most recent title was children's book She Persisted Around the World (Penguin Random House), published in 2018.

Ian Chapman, S&S UK c.e.o., said: “This book has some astonishing stories of inspirational women and, in sharing what they have meant to them, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton give us an insight into what has made them who they are. We could not be prouder to be publishing this book in the UK this autumn.”