The theme for this year’s annual International Women’s Day on March 8th is “Be Bold for Change,”  and women all over the world will be marking the day with festivals, book club discussions, conferences, concert performances, speaking events, and more. To celebrate women’s accomplishments politically, culturally, and socially, consider reading a book about and by women from around the world.

Here are a few ideas in fiction books; click on the title for my review:

• Alice Munro, Nobel Prize winner:  Dear Life
• Barbara Kingsolver: Flight Behavior
• Ruth Ozeki: A Tale for the Time Being
• Claire Messud: The Woman Upstairs   
• Maggie O’Farrell: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
• Dorothy Trevor Townsend: A Short History of Women   
• Anita Diamant: The Boston Girl

  March 8th also has the distinction of being the day when the Baileys Prize (formerly known as the Orange Prize) longlist is announced.  The annual Prize targets fiction written by women, with past winners including Barbara Kingsolver’s  The Lacuna and Tea Obreht’s The Tiger’s Wife.   This year’s longlist includes sixteen books  nominated to take the £30,000 award. The shortlist is announced April 3rd and the winner on June 7th.

Here are my predictions for inclusion on this year’s longlist.  Have you read any of them?

• This Must Be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell
• Swing Time  by Zadie Smith
• Commonwealth by Ann Patchett (who won in 2002 for Bel Canto)
• Homegoing  by Yaa Gyasi