Virago signs Walter’s Feminism for a World on Fire

Virago has acquired Feminism for a World on Fire by Natasha Walter, scheduled for publication in early 2025.

Lennie Goodings, chair of Virago, acquired world rights from Anna Webber at United Agents. Walter is the author of Living Dolls, one of Virago’s Five Gold Reads to mark its 50th birthday, and the forthcoming memoir about grief and resistance, Before the Light Fades.

Feminism for a World on Fire is described by the publisher as “an important and rallying call for change, takes feminism back to its radical roots and crucially, encompasses today’s urgent concerns about economics and climate change".

It goes on: “Harnessing the anger and impatience that many women feel by growing inequality, misogyny and the failures of individualist feminism, it also maps out a way to move forward by bringing what is most valuable in feminist and environmental thought and action together. In a world that now stands on the brink of catastrophe, we can no longer rely on the same old stories. This is the time to build new relationships both with one another, and with the planet.”

Walter said: “This book is a passionate take on one of the key issues of our times: how feminism has so far failed to make the dream of a more equal world into reality, and how time may now be running out to turn things around. In it, I will harness the anger and impatience that many women feel as we experience a world defined not only by growing inequality and misogyny, but also by the impending climate and nature emergency.

“In its exposure of the failures of individualist feminism, this book is not afraid to speak unwelcome truths. But it also maps out a way to move forward, and by bringing what is most valuable in feminist and environmental thought and action together, this book forges a realistic and relevant vision for our changed times.”

Goodings commented: “I always trust Natasha’s instincts. We published her last book Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism at the vanguard of the fourth wave of feminism, at exactly when young women said ’enough!’ and what makes me excited about this new book is once again she’s alive to the frustrations of feminists – particularly around individualist feminism.

“She calls for a vision for our times that radically brings movements together. I find that both exciting and energising.”