Women leaders & trailblazers: books for grown-ups
From the Bookbear grown-ups' shelf: 15 books on women leaders & trailblazers, chosen for curious, conscious parents.
-
Unbreakable: An Autobiography
by Mary Kom with Dina Serto
AdultsIndian author
The six-time world boxing champion on growing up in a poor Manipur village, fighting prejudice, and balancing motherhood with the ring.
-
Ace Against Odds
by Sania Mirza with Imran Mirza
AdultsIndian author
India's tennis trailblazer on her journey from Hyderabad courts to world No. 1 in doubles, and the pressures she faced along the way.
-
My Life in Full: Work, Family, and Our Future
by Indra K. Nooyi
AdultsIndian author
The former PepsiCo CEO on growing up in Chennai, rising to lead a global company, and what families and workplaces need to change.
-
We Are Poor but So Many
by Ela R. Bhatt
AdultsIndian author
The founder of SEWA tells the story of organising India's self-employed women workers into one of the world's largest women's movements.
-
Mother Teresa
by Navin Chawla
AdultsIndian author
An authorised biography by a longtime friend, drawing on years of conversations with Mother Teresa about her life and work in Kolkata.
-
Inner Recesses, Outer Spaces: Memoirs
by Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay
AdultsIndian author
The memoirs of the freedom fighter who revived India's handicrafts and helped build its cultural institutions after independence.
-
Sarojini Naidu: Selected Poetry and Prose
by Makarand Paranjape (ed.)
AdultsIndian author
A selection of Sarojini Naidu's poems, speeches and letters, introducing the poet and freedom fighter in her own words.
-
Words of Freedom: Aruna Asaf Ali
by Aruna Asaf Ali
AdultsIndian author
Selected writings of the 'heroine of 1942', who hoisted the flag in Bombay during the Quit India movement — part of Penguin's Words of Freedom series.
-
Anandibai Joshi: A Torchbearer
by Anjali Kirtane
AdultsIndian author
The life of Anandibai Joshi, who in 1886 became one of the first Indian women to qualify as a doctor of Western medicine.
-
Rani Chennamma
by Sadashiva Wodeyar
AdultsIndian author
A biography of the queen of Kittur, who led an armed revolt against the East India Company in 1824, decades before 1857.
-
Mera Jeevan Sangharsh
by Captain Lakshmi Sahgal
AdultsIndian author
The autobiography of the doctor who commanded the Rani of Jhansi Regiment of the Indian National Army (Hindi).
-
I Am Malala
by Malala Yousafzai & Christina Lamb
Adults
The Nobel laureate's full memoir: growing up in Pakistan's Swat Valley, speaking out for girls' education, surviving an attack and continuing her campaign.
-
Hidden Figures
Adults
The untold story of the Black women mathematicians who helped win the space race.
-
Unbowed: A Memoir
by Wangari Maathai
Adults✈️ Import only (pricey)
The Nobel Peace Prize winner's memoir of founding the Green Belt Movement and planting millions of trees across Kenya.
-
Hazrat Mahal: The Rebel Begam of Awadh
by Rosie Llewellyn-Jones
Adults
A historian's biography of the Begum of Awadh, who led the resistance in Lucknow during the uprising of 1857.
