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From Women to the World: Letters for a New Century
Acclaimed writer Elif Shafak writes a letter to Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand after the Christchurch attack. Actress Yasmine AlMassri pens a poem about war for her mother. Activist and TV presenter June Sarpong addresses designer Diane Von Furstenberg.
These are a few of the moving and insightful letters that make up From Women to the World, a book by journalist, author and executive Elizabeth Filippouli, which brings together letters from a global group of accomplished women - politicians, royalty, actors, writers, activists and more – every one addressed to a woman who means something to each of them. The results are extraordinary, heartfelt letters to historical figures, mentors, family members or inspiring ordinary people. Each is based on these women's personal histories and experiences, drawing attention to social issues such as homelessness, war, LGBT activism, mental health care or the plight of international refugees.
From Women to the World is more than a simple collection of letters - it is a book that shows a new model of leadership based on emotional intelligence and demonstrates how we have the wisdom to inspire, motivate and reinvent our world.
These are a few of the moving and insightful letters that make up From Women to the World, a book by journalist, author and executive Elizabeth Filippouli, which brings together letters from a global group of accomplished women - politicians, royalty, actors, writers, activists and more – every one addressed to a woman who means something to each of them. The results are extraordinary, heartfelt letters to historical figures, mentors, family members or inspiring ordinary people. Each is based on these women's personal histories and experiences, drawing attention to social issues such as homelessness, war, LGBT activism, mental health care or the plight of international refugees.
From Women to the World is more than a simple collection of letters - it is a book that shows a new model of leadership based on emotional intelligence and demonstrates how we have the wisdom to inspire, motivate and reinvent our world.
- GenresNonfiction
216 pages, Hardcover
Published July 15, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 1, 2021
From Women to the World: Letters for a New Century is an empowering, inspirational and fascinating anthology of contributions and letters exchanged between many brilliant, accomplished women of the world. 34 writers share their personal experiences – issues varying from patriarchy and misogyny, social entrepreneurship and philanthropy, as well as careers and mentoring- and reflect on how others have supported them throughout trying times. The collection features acclaimed Booker-prize nominated Elif Shafak writing a letter to Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, activist and TV presenter June Sarpong OBE addressing designer Diane Von Furstenberg, Her Royal Highness Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan of Jordan to her grandmothers, activist, global communications expert and Groucho member Geraldine Sharpe Newton writing a letter inspired by Mollie Yard and Gloria Steinem and children’s nutrition author and entrepreneur Annabel Karmel MBE to her daughter Laura.
Each is based on these women’s trials and tribulations, personal histories and experiences, drawing attention to social issues such as gender equality, poverty, religion, racism, capitalism, imperialism, colonialism, homelessness, war, LGBTQ activism, mental health, Covid19, displacement and the refugee crisis. From Women to the World is a book that shows us the power that women have not just to inspire each other, but also to motivate and reinvent our world. Produced and edited by Elizabeth Filippouli, the Founder of Global Thinkers Forum and Athena40 both platforms promoting brilliant female role models, each was given only one instruction: your letter should be written from the heart, and with candour. Spanning the globe and covering such countries as Lebanon, Uganda, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Greece, Denmark and Canada as well as Iran, Turkey and France, these trailblazing women open up their hearts in a way that they had not done before.
The book is an extension of Filippouli’s feminist work but in letter form with some of the world's most remarkable women speaking directly to the women who have inspired and influenced them. The result is both moving and humbling in equal measure. By sharing their intimate, heartfelt and relatable personal experiences, this draws attention to the pressing issues that fuel their activism, and the wisdom that these women have acquired through the years makes them very intuitive towards major social issues, including the gender gap, mental health stigma, unemployment and racism, but also personal challenges such as self-doubt and obstacles that prevent women from achieving their full potential. The book is the vessel through which they have embarked on a journey to revisit their relationships with mothers, daughters, friends, mentors, role models and, ultimately, with themselves. A captivating, rich and moving collection. Highly recommended.
Each is based on these women’s trials and tribulations, personal histories and experiences, drawing attention to social issues such as gender equality, poverty, religion, racism, capitalism, imperialism, colonialism, homelessness, war, LGBTQ activism, mental health, Covid19, displacement and the refugee crisis. From Women to the World is a book that shows us the power that women have not just to inspire each other, but also to motivate and reinvent our world. Produced and edited by Elizabeth Filippouli, the Founder of Global Thinkers Forum and Athena40 both platforms promoting brilliant female role models, each was given only one instruction: your letter should be written from the heart, and with candour. Spanning the globe and covering such countries as Lebanon, Uganda, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Greece, Denmark and Canada as well as Iran, Turkey and France, these trailblazing women open up their hearts in a way that they had not done before.
The book is an extension of Filippouli’s feminist work but in letter form with some of the world's most remarkable women speaking directly to the women who have inspired and influenced them. The result is both moving and humbling in equal measure. By sharing their intimate, heartfelt and relatable personal experiences, this draws attention to the pressing issues that fuel their activism, and the wisdom that these women have acquired through the years makes them very intuitive towards major social issues, including the gender gap, mental health stigma, unemployment and racism, but also personal challenges such as self-doubt and obstacles that prevent women from achieving their full potential. The book is the vessel through which they have embarked on a journey to revisit their relationships with mothers, daughters, friends, mentors, role models and, ultimately, with themselves. A captivating, rich and moving collection. Highly recommended.
July 8, 2021
Elizabeth Filippouli, From Women to the World, I.B. Taurus, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2021.
Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for this uncorrected proof for review.
What better way to introduce a book of letters to women of importance to their correspondent than with a letter to the reader? Elizabeth Filippouli does so, explaining the way in which she came to developing a technique that reaches out women, from the women she has met, to the recipients of the letters some of them have written. She wanted their untold stories, written from the heart. Her introduction begins with International Women’s Day, 2018 when Athena 40 was announced at UNESCO in Paris to promote a ‘“global” conversation’. Filippouli sees her book of letters as a way of conversing with the writers, recipients, and readers, across ages, races and cross gender with familiarity.
The list of letter writers and recipients, information about the writers, index, short biography of Elizabeth Filippouli and detailed acknowledgements provide the academic sources; the letters provide the heart. Together, these elements foster understanding, answers to questions perhaps we have not thought to ask, recall of momentous world events, and enlightenment about personal experiences.
I feel that this book is best read in part at different times, rather than reading it straight through. Having done the latter I am left with a feeling of slight disappointment about what I see as the monotone nature of the letters. However, other readers may well thrill to the emphasis given to the chosen letter writers, whom I see as often being from a similar background with ideas and feelings that echo each other.
Despite my criticism, many examples did resonate with me, and so for me the book is enough of a hoard of ideas, experiences, and personalities to warrant thinking about how it could be used. Firstly, it is a good resource, with like stories supporting each other as experiences that are based in reality – needed, I think, if the letters are to be used as an academic resource. Secondly, dipping into other women’s experiences is always a valuable way of investigating women’s world. The women who are featured in this book give of themselves, making a world that is often unfamiliar, more real. Their experiences alert readers to how their own might well be universal, how they might be dealt with, and where women’s experiences fit with the more familiar information that dwells on men and their world.
One of the letters I particularly warmed to was from a mother to her second daughter. The letter from Annabel Karmel to Lara Karmel moved from the tragedy of her first daughter’s death at five days of age, to humour in dealing with the vagaries of her son’s gastronomic foibles, to the professional outcome of dealing with these – creating a range of appealing food and world-famous cookery books – to the relationship she and Lara have around cooking and creating a business. Another was to Angelina Jolie, demonstrating the value of high-profile supporters of aid programs against the criticisms that are sometimes made. I am an admirer of Jacinda Ardern, so a letter to her was always going to be of interest to me. The resilience of other writers, based on their knowledge of strong women such as the letter written by Roula Azar Douglas to Ramona Fiani who was killed at the beginning of the Civil War in Beirut; Nurdeniz Truncer, who is the recipient of her visually impaired daughter’s letter; and to Jacquelin Du Pre from Silvia Chiesa. And then, known to many of us through the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison, a letter to Margaret Garner, from Muna AbuSulayman from Saudi Arabia which brings together women of markedly different backgrounds.
Elizabeth Filippouli has assembled a collection that is worth reading: the women featured in From Women to the World all have something to say. The collection makes a valuable contribution to understanding how the world works for many women.
Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for this uncorrected proof for review.
What better way to introduce a book of letters to women of importance to their correspondent than with a letter to the reader? Elizabeth Filippouli does so, explaining the way in which she came to developing a technique that reaches out women, from the women she has met, to the recipients of the letters some of them have written. She wanted their untold stories, written from the heart. Her introduction begins with International Women’s Day, 2018 when Athena 40 was announced at UNESCO in Paris to promote a ‘“global” conversation’. Filippouli sees her book of letters as a way of conversing with the writers, recipients, and readers, across ages, races and cross gender with familiarity.
The list of letter writers and recipients, information about the writers, index, short biography of Elizabeth Filippouli and detailed acknowledgements provide the academic sources; the letters provide the heart. Together, these elements foster understanding, answers to questions perhaps we have not thought to ask, recall of momentous world events, and enlightenment about personal experiences.
I feel that this book is best read in part at different times, rather than reading it straight through. Having done the latter I am left with a feeling of slight disappointment about what I see as the monotone nature of the letters. However, other readers may well thrill to the emphasis given to the chosen letter writers, whom I see as often being from a similar background with ideas and feelings that echo each other.
Despite my criticism, many examples did resonate with me, and so for me the book is enough of a hoard of ideas, experiences, and personalities to warrant thinking about how it could be used. Firstly, it is a good resource, with like stories supporting each other as experiences that are based in reality – needed, I think, if the letters are to be used as an academic resource. Secondly, dipping into other women’s experiences is always a valuable way of investigating women’s world. The women who are featured in this book give of themselves, making a world that is often unfamiliar, more real. Their experiences alert readers to how their own might well be universal, how they might be dealt with, and where women’s experiences fit with the more familiar information that dwells on men and their world.
One of the letters I particularly warmed to was from a mother to her second daughter. The letter from Annabel Karmel to Lara Karmel moved from the tragedy of her first daughter’s death at five days of age, to humour in dealing with the vagaries of her son’s gastronomic foibles, to the professional outcome of dealing with these – creating a range of appealing food and world-famous cookery books – to the relationship she and Lara have around cooking and creating a business. Another was to Angelina Jolie, demonstrating the value of high-profile supporters of aid programs against the criticisms that are sometimes made. I am an admirer of Jacinda Ardern, so a letter to her was always going to be of interest to me. The resilience of other writers, based on their knowledge of strong women such as the letter written by Roula Azar Douglas to Ramona Fiani who was killed at the beginning of the Civil War in Beirut; Nurdeniz Truncer, who is the recipient of her visually impaired daughter’s letter; and to Jacquelin Du Pre from Silvia Chiesa. And then, known to many of us through the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison, a letter to Margaret Garner, from Muna AbuSulayman from Saudi Arabia which brings together women of markedly different backgrounds.
Elizabeth Filippouli has assembled a collection that is worth reading: the women featured in From Women to the World all have something to say. The collection makes a valuable contribution to understanding how the world works for many women.
November 12, 2021
I read this one through, but it might be better as a book to read a letter at a time when your wanting some inspiration from a sister. Its was a bit of one after the other of a similar tone if read all in one go, but I still liked having the collection of letters, would just be best read bit by bit as needed.
June 14, 2021
From Women to the World by Elizabeth Filippouli is an interesting and inspiring collection that spans a wide range of approaches and intentions. As the title makes clear, this is for everyone, not just women. We all have much to learn here.
While I found all of the letters good, thanks in large part to Filippouli's brief biographies for context, some spoke to me more strongly. This is to be expected with any book that is a collection of writing from different people, there will be an unevenness that has nothing to do with quality and all to do with style and voice.
The variety of voices, probably the books biggest strength even if is what gives it the unevenness, was only part of what slightly disappointed me. I approached the book expecting each letter to be inspiring in the personal sense of "you helped me to..." way. Many were. Some writers barely touched that part and preferred to use the opportunity to give the reader, rather than the imagined letter recipient, a lesson in either their own accomplishments or history in general. These were still somewhat inspiring, very informative, yet disappointing that they read more like self-advertisements than letters to people who supposedly inspired them. Those particular letters were still good and informative but didn't fit what I was expecting from the collection, something more personal rather than self-praise disguised as something personal. Though each writer and recipient has certainly accomplished things they deserve praise for.
I would recommend this to readers who enjoy getting a glimpse of the types of things (people, events, etc) that inspire these phenomenal women to achieve their goals. Every letter, even those that I found less inspiring, made for great reading and wonderful insight.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
While I found all of the letters good, thanks in large part to Filippouli's brief biographies for context, some spoke to me more strongly. This is to be expected with any book that is a collection of writing from different people, there will be an unevenness that has nothing to do with quality and all to do with style and voice.
The variety of voices, probably the books biggest strength even if is what gives it the unevenness, was only part of what slightly disappointed me. I approached the book expecting each letter to be inspiring in the personal sense of "you helped me to..." way. Many were. Some writers barely touched that part and preferred to use the opportunity to give the reader, rather than the imagined letter recipient, a lesson in either their own accomplishments or history in general. These were still somewhat inspiring, very informative, yet disappointing that they read more like self-advertisements than letters to people who supposedly inspired them. Those particular letters were still good and informative but didn't fit what I was expecting from the collection, something more personal rather than self-praise disguised as something personal. Though each writer and recipient has certainly accomplished things they deserve praise for.
I would recommend this to readers who enjoy getting a glimpse of the types of things (people, events, etc) that inspire these phenomenal women to achieve their goals. Every letter, even those that I found less inspiring, made for great reading and wonderful insight.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
September 6, 2021
"I am convinced that each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women. Ignoring a single gender discrimination is a step backwards. Equality won't come all by itself. Each and every one of us, women and men, can and should contribute to the creation of a better world, a world where we are all equal." - Roula Azar Douglas
Elizabeth Filippouli gathered in this book a collection of letters written by women around the world to other women; some fictional, some deceased, some that they know personally, and some that they look up to. Some letters were more interesting than others, some more emotional, some more informative, but the bottom line in each on of them is the importance of us women being free to be and become whomever we want. For us to have an equal access to education and professional opportunities, to decide our own reproductive choices, to fight society's prejudices and pressure to become perfect or normal, to define what success means to us, to be the ones to set our own boundaries.
"We need to pay attention to emotions, perceptions, and stories...Words matter. Stories matter. The art of storytelling matters."
The letters that touched me the most were by Roula Azar Douglas, Shelmina Abji, Elif Shafak, Christina Nielsen, and Mariane Pearl. I couldn't stop reading as Nielsen described her experiences in the motorsport industry and as Pearl devoted her letter to an anonymous woman who could have been a number of voiceless women in history.
This book also made me think how language and the way we express ourselves will change in the following years, as some of these letters discussed all the work that men and women have to do to reach equality, but now everyone should fight for equality for everyone; women, trans, non-binary, etc.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC!
Elizabeth Filippouli gathered in this book a collection of letters written by women around the world to other women; some fictional, some deceased, some that they know personally, and some that they look up to. Some letters were more interesting than others, some more emotional, some more informative, but the bottom line in each on of them is the importance of us women being free to be and become whomever we want. For us to have an equal access to education and professional opportunities, to decide our own reproductive choices, to fight society's prejudices and pressure to become perfect or normal, to define what success means to us, to be the ones to set our own boundaries.
"We need to pay attention to emotions, perceptions, and stories...Words matter. Stories matter. The art of storytelling matters."
The letters that touched me the most were by Roula Azar Douglas, Shelmina Abji, Elif Shafak, Christina Nielsen, and Mariane Pearl. I couldn't stop reading as Nielsen described her experiences in the motorsport industry and as Pearl devoted her letter to an anonymous woman who could have been a number of voiceless women in history.
This book also made me think how language and the way we express ourselves will change in the following years, as some of these letters discussed all the work that men and women have to do to reach equality, but now everyone should fight for equality for everyone; women, trans, non-binary, etc.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC!
August 17, 2024
What I thought I would find: I was under the impression that this book, with included many distinguished personalities and activists from all walks of life, was going to be heartfelt, touching, and revolutionary in its defense of a new leadership armed with emotional intelligence in order to shape the world and address social challenges.
What I actually found: A lot of trauma-dumping, a clear focus on motherhood/daughterhood/family over other forms of community or of womanhood, a lot of aggrandising vocabulary, a lot of self-praising and "look at all of my titles and achievements", uninspiring writing, some very good personal stories that I enjoyed sprinkled in there.
2.5/5. Disappointing. Everyone is able to write... But not everyone can tell a story.
What I actually found: A lot of trauma-dumping, a clear focus on motherhood/daughterhood/family over other forms of community or of womanhood, a lot of aggrandising vocabulary, a lot of self-praising and "look at all of my titles and achievements", uninspiring writing, some very good personal stories that I enjoyed sprinkled in there.
2.5/5. Disappointing. Everyone is able to write... But not everyone can tell a story.
July 4, 2021
A beautiful concept for all women and some of these letters are so powerful they can be read over and over again.Some of the letters didn’t quite hit the. Ark for me and felt a little autobiographical rather than a letter to the reader(s). I also found there was a slant to the type of women and maybe would like to see more variety in both background, career, religion and even ethnicity but what was evident is the strength and power all these women have and have found within themselves, quite often through a tragedy but they are nonetheless inspirational and is certainly worth reading
July 3, 2021
These personal letters are emotional, heartfelt and incredibly moving. It's an interesting book, giving insight into the challenges faced by women globally. I think this is a book that teaches you so much through the personal experiences of these women.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
December 1, 2021
A powerful and impactful collection of stories from an array of intriguing women. Undeniably inspiring I want to buy this book for everyone I know.
June 21, 2021
Without a doubt, one of the best books to come out of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Gift this book to all the women in your life!
September 23, 2022
If you had to write a letter to a woman, past or present, who influenced your life, who would you choose? Mine would definitely be my mum.
This book collects just that; letters from influential women to women they thank for influencing them. These are heartfelt and emotional, beautiful and inspiring - shining a light on true influencers that are worthy of the title, role models that we should all look up to and aspire to be more like. It's hard to pick a favourite!
This book collects just that; letters from influential women to women they thank for influencing them. These are heartfelt and emotional, beautiful and inspiring - shining a light on true influencers that are worthy of the title, role models that we should all look up to and aspire to be more like. It's hard to pick a favourite!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews