The Little Book of Feminist Saints

Chapter 1

Artemisia Gentileschi

Matron Saint of Artists

b. 1593, Italy

Feast Day: January 1

The judge ordered them to use thumbscrews, to ensure that the victim was telling the truth. There were gynecological exams in court, to confirm that her virginity had been, as she claimed, taken from her. The trial dragged on for eight months, during which time Artemisia never wavered from her testimony: Agostino Tassi, a painter her father had hired to act as her tutor, had raped her. In the end, Tassi, who d been accused of rape before, was given a one-­year sentence that he was never made to serve, and Artemisia was married off, quickly and quietly, and sent away, to Florence, where her real life s work began. She could neither read nor write, but she could paint. And she did paint: powerful women, women seeking revenge. Her best-­known work, Judith Slaying Holofernes, depicts the Old Testament story of the widow Judith decapitating the general Holofernes, with remarkable violence. But it was her own face she used for Judith, and for the face of Holofernes, she painted Agostino Tassi s. It is the work for which he is remembered now, a man who was meant to be her tutor, and instead became her subject.



Michelle Obama

Matron Saint of Ladies

b. 1964, United States

Feast Day: January 17

We will never have a democracy until we have democratic families and a society without the invented categories of both race and gender. Michelle Obama may have changed history in the most powerful way by example.

Gloria Steinem

She went to a magnet school an hour and a half from her home, made the honor roll every year, graduated as salutatorian. But she still remembers the college counselor who told her, I m not sure if you re Princeton material. She was warned that she was overreaching, that the schools she was applying to were too much for her. Then I got there and I looked around and thought: I m just as smart as these people, she recalled. Smarter,

Julia Pierpont is the author of the New York Times bestseller Among the Ten Thousand Things, winner of the Prix Fitzgerald in France. She is a graduate of Barnard College and the MFA program at New York University. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, and Guernica. She lives and teaches in New York.

Manjit Thapp is an illustrator from the United Kingdom. She graduated with a BA in illustration from Camberwell College of Arts in 2016. Her illustrations combine both traditional and digital media, and her work has been featured by Instagram, Dazed, Vogue India, and Wonderland Magazine.

A new set of role models and heroes matron saints for the feminist future. The New York Times Book Review

The women in this book . . . blazed trails where none existed before. The Guardian

A whistle-stop tour of inspiring women . . . [The artwork] deserves to be framed in every woman s living room. Diva
 
[A] small book packing a big punch. The Independent

Small enough to tuck into a bag, this delightful book offers instant inspiration. BookPage

A gloriously diverse, edifying, and curiosity-inspiring collection. Booklist

Short, snappy and inspiring [with] glorious visuals. Psychologies
 
This beautifully illustrated collection offers daily inspiration and humorous anecdotes to remind you why we worship these women so. Hello Giggles

Bold and sassy . . . an engaging picture-book experience for adults [and] required reading for any seeking to broaden their historical knowledge. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

  A thoroughly brilliant and informative read . . . In its pint-sized form, it s a gift to give, and a gateway to discovering brilliant women the scientists, creators, artists, protestors, inspirations, pioneers, the doers who broke the mold world over. The Skinny