In The Essential Rokeya, Mohammad A. Quayum brings together, for the first time, some of the best work by one of South Asia's earliest and most heroic feminist writers and activists, who was also a leading figure of the Bengal Renaissance in the nineteenth and early twentieth century - Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932). This collection includes Rokeya's most popular story, Sultana's Dream, and some essays and letters written originally in English, as well as Quayum's own translation of several of her fiction and non-fiction works written originally in Bengali. This will enable readers outside Bangladesh and West Bengal to appraise and appreciate Rokeya's fundamental role in the feminist awakening in South Asia, especially among the Bengali Muslims of her time.

Shortly after Alysa Cummings was diagnosed with breast cancer, she sat down at her laptop computer and began keeping a journal. Over the two years of her cancer treatment, Alysa continued writing as she moved through the healthcare delivery system:

"I fantasized that I could somehow use my computer to craft a story with an upbeat next chapter or fairy tale happily-ever-after ending. Looking back, that's the only explanation I can come up with, why I felt so compelled to create a record of my day-to-day experiences as a cancer patient. The one thing I could control were these words that crowded each other as they quickly appeared on my computer screen; these stories that flowed through my fingertips in such a manic rush; these traumatic adventures that happened to me in a place I began to call CancerLand.

CancerLand: it's this parallel universe, I swear, separate and apart from the rest of life as I once knew it. How did I end up in this wacky Bizarro World filled with freaky language and even stranger rituals? "

Gradually her daily journal entries became vignettes and poems that were published on the OncoLink website. Greetings from CancerLand, a collection of Alysa's writing from 2002-2012, charts one breast cancer survivor's journey as she discovers the power of writing to move her recovery forward.

Jacob Abbott's account of Mary Queen of Scots life and untimely death is complete with original illustrations of Mary herself and her various residences. Abbott's history is both embracing and superb as an introduction to one of the most divisive and controversial figures of the Tudor era. Mary had a complex role in the politics of the day, and had potential as a rival to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The book begins by examining Mary's childhood years, and her French education. The agreement - The Treaty of Greenwich - which would pair the young Mary to Edward, the son of Henry VIII, is detailed, as are hopes that the union would cement relations between the English and the Scots. Clever, capable and charming, Mary Queen of Scots was initially seen as a promising monarch. However the rules of accession of the time made her very existence problematic for Queen Elizabeth I. This problem would underline the remainder of Mary's life, her nature as a potential threat made eternal by her very blood.

Marginalised migrant groups face significant barriers in accessing services and becoming integrated in their communities. Mainstream services are failing to engage many marginalised migrant and refugee women and to respond effectively to their needs, raising serious questions as to how community development might respond and facilitate positive spaces and reduce isolation. Community Work with Migrant and Refugee Women: 'Insiders' and 'Outsiders' in Research and Practice outlines the implications for policy, practice and meaningful research with migrant and refugee women drawing on a three-year case study of a community-based organisation working with marginalised Muslim women in London. Arguing for a bottom-up approach that centres on needs as well as assets, Community Work with Migrant and Refugee Women highlights the importance of cultural relevance of services, and a holistic approach to integration that acknowledges the full range of needs and experiences migrant and refugee women face. Co-written by academic researchers and practitioner-researchers, this volume contributes to both academic and policy debates where there is a need for more research and policy that understands the experiences of migrant and refugee women as well as which interventions are effective.

This book presents the first feminist translation of Rosalia de Castro's seminal poetic anthology En las orillas del Sar [On the Edge of the River Sar] (1884). Rosalia de Castro (1837-1885) was an artist of vast poetic vision. Her understanding of human nature and her deep sensitivity to the injustices suffered by women and by such marginalized peoples as those of her native region, Galicia, are manifest in verses of universal yet rarely translated significance. An outspoken proponent of both women's rights and her region's cultural and political autonomy, Castro used her poetry as a vehicle through which to decry the crushing hardships both groups endured as Spain vaulted between progressive liberal and conservative reactionary political forces throughout the nineteenth century. Depending upon what faction held sway in the nation at any given time during Castro's truncated literary career, her works were either revered as revolutionary or reviled as heretical for the views they espoused. Long after her death by uterine cancer in 1885, Castro was excluded from the pantheon of Spanish literature by Restoration society for her unorthodox views. Compellingly, the poet's conceptualization of the individual and the national self as informed by gender, ethnicity, class, and language echoes contemporary scholars of cultural studies who seek to broaden present-day definitions of national identity through the incorporation of precisely these same phenomena. Thanks to the most recent works in Rosalian and Galician studies, we are now able to recuperate and reevaluate Rosalia de Castro's poems in their original languages for the more radical symbolism and themes they foreground related to gender, sexuality, race and class as they inform individual and national identities. However, although Castro's poetic corpus is widely accessible in its original languages, these important features of her verses have yet to be given voice in the small number of English translations of only a sub-set of her works that have been produced in the last century. As a result, our understanding of Castro's potential contributions to contemporary world poetries, gender studies, Galician and more broadly cultural studies is woefully incomplete. An English translation of Castro's works that is specifically feminist in its methodological orientation offers a unique and thought-provoking means by which to fill this void.

This innovative volume highlights the relevance of globalization and the insights of gender studies and religious studies for feminist theology. Beginning with a discussion of position of the discipline at the turn of the twenty-first century, the handbook seeks to present an inclusive account of feminist theology in the early twenty-first century that acknowledges the reflection of women on religion beyond the global North and its forms of Christianity. Globalization is taken as the central theme, as the foremost characteristic of the context in which we do feminist theology today. The volume traces the impacts of globalization on gender and religion in specific geographical contexts, describing the implications for feminist theological thinking. A final section explores the changing contents of the field, moving towards new models of theology, distinct from both the structure and language of traditional Christian systematic theology and the forms of secular feminism. The handbook draws on material from several religious traditions and every populated continent, with chapters provided by a diverse team of international scholars.

Reading Contemporary African American Literature focuses on the subject of contemporary African American popular fiction by women. Bragg's study addresses why such work should be the subject of scholarly examination, describes the events and attitudes which account for the critical neglect of this body of work, and models a critical approach to such narratives that demonstrates the distinctive ways in which this literature captures the complexities of post-civil rights era black experiences. In making her arguments regarding the value of popular writing, Bragg argues that black women's popular fiction foregrounds gender in ways that are frequently missing from other modes of narrative production. They exhibit a responsiveness and timeliness to the shifting social terrain which is reflected in the rapidly shifting styles and themes which characterize popular fiction. In doing so, they extend the historical function of African American literature by continuing to engage the black body as a symbol of political meaning in the social context of the United States. In popular literature Beauty Bragg locates a space from which black women engage a variety of public discourses.

Every year 5% of all breast cancer diagnosis occur in women under the age of forty. They do not have the time to be sick, stop their lives or even take the time to care for themselves. This book is for them-the women outside the common statistics, like me. Someone who has been rocked by a scary diagnosis but continues to rock-on. Someone who needs to laugh in the face of fear. It is scary-but hey, if I can get through it, anyone can. The one thing I know for sure, laughter heals. I realized long ago, before cancer, that if I didn t laugh, I d cry. I choose to laugh. I hope you do too.

Lindsey Salloway presented her husband, Tosh, with a wonderful gift for their fifth anniversary: two pink lines.. Finally pregnant after months of trying, Lindsey and Tosh were thrilled. The planning started that night-what they would name the baby, how they would decorate the nursery, and when the baby's due date would be. Lindsey and Tosh, like every other pregnant couple, look forward to kissing their tiny baby's face and counting fingers and toes. For Lindsey and Tosh, however, that dream would not come true.

In her poignant memoir, Lindsey shares the story of her journey through three miscarriages in a span of ten months - from the ecstatic moments after she learned she was first pregnant to the heartbreaking instant when she realized she had lost each baby. As she recalls each experience, Lindsey provides a realistic look into the darkness of the pain and suffering as well as the light of hope and healing as she faced the complicated emotions that accompany miscarriage.

"Our Beautiful Babies Dear" shares one woman's story of loss, endurance, and hope as she endures the pain of miscarriage and finds strength in survival.

This book investigates early modern women's interventions in politics and the public sphere during times of civil war in England and France. Taking this transcultural and comparative perspective, and the period designation "early modern" expansively, Antigone's Example identifies a canon of women's civil-war writings; it elucidates their historical specificity as well as the transhistorical context of civil war, a context which, it argues, enabled women's participation in political thought.