Particular Books to publish crowd-funded feminist storybook

Particular Books, an imprint of Penguin Press, is publishing a crowd-funded feminist storybook, Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, comprising 100 tales of "extraordinary women" from around the globe, including Michelle Obama and Jane Austen.

The book began in the US after authors Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo, co-founders of children’s media company Timbuktu Labs, raised $1m on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, subscribing orders for over 60,000 copies.

In addition to Obama and Austen, "extraordinary women" whose stories the book will highlight include artist Frida Kahlo, mathematician and writer Ada Lovelace, tennis player Serena Williams and Amelia Earhart, the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. 

Bringing together the stories of scientists, artists, politicians, pirates and spies from across the globe, each of the women's stories will be told in the style of a bedtime fairy tale, and will be "richly illustrated". Art work will be provided by 60 female artists from around the world, with each mini-biography to be accompanied by a full-page portrait.

Casiana Ionita, commissioning editor at Penguin Press, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein (on behalf of Mollie Glick at CAA in the US). 

Ionita said: "When I first read about Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls I thought it was exactly the book I would have loved to have growing up – not fairy tales about princesses who get rescued but rather stories about real women who have taken on challenges, solved problems, and created new movements."