Description:
Alongside Rokeya's pathbreaking feminist science fiction story "Sultana's Dream," this volume features fresh and exciting new translations of her key Bengali writings and a superbly informative introduction to her life and work.
Brief description: ROKEYA SAKHAWAT HOSSAIN (1880-1932) was born in present-day Bangladesh, then part of colonial India. Despite being deprived of formal education, she became a prominent writer, activist, and educator. The web of her life spanned from the minutiae of running a girls' school in Kolkata to struggles for women's emancipation on the national and world stage.
Review Quotes:
"In her groundbreaking work of science-fiction, 'Sultana's Dream, ' the pioneering Bengali writer, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, imagines a world where gender roles are reversed, and women hold leadership positions. With its emphasis on education, technological advancements, and the power of women's leadership, Hossain's work remains vitally relevant today. Kudos to Ben Baer for his fine translations of these important texts." -Amitav Ghosh, author, most recently, of Smoke and Ashes: Opium's Hidden Histories
"A gorgeous, urgent compilation of the feminist, decolonizing vision of Rokeya Hossain, and of her understanding that the best speculative fiction poses a challenge to the violence of the present." -Siddhartha Deb, author of The Light at the End of the World
"Rokeya's uniquely fanciful and didactic mode is brilliantly showcased in this small but significant selection of her writings. Spider-Mother offers the added richness of a fresh translation of her Bengali texts by Ben Baer, illustrations to 'Sultana's Dream' by the graphic artist Chitra Ganesh, and an introduction by the editors that addresses, with insight and solicitude, each of the six pieces included in the volume. The result is a volume that will be of compelling interest to readers of feminist, speculative, eco-critical, and postcolonial writing. Those new to Rokeya's writings will discover new worlds in this introduction to a pioneering South Asian woman writer's oeuvre." -Rajeswari Sunder Rajan, formerly Global Distinguished Professor, New York University
"Efficiently and affectionately introduced and translated, this book will, at last, ferry Begum Rokeya's uncommon imagination to new readers." -Sumana Roy, author of How I Became a Tree and Provincials
"This groundbreaking collection introduces readers to the writing of pioneering Bengali educator, activist, and author Rokeya Hossain, much of which is translated to English here for the first time. Featuring Hossain's original speculative stories, journalistic essays, and political manifestoes alongside contemporary illustrations and scholarly essays, editors Ben Baer and Smaran Dayal remind us that the future has always been female, and that feminism and science fiction have always been global endeavors. A must read for students, scholars, artists, and activists alike. Highly recommended!" -Lisa Yaszek, editor of The Future is Female! series and The Routledge Companion to Gender and Science Fiction