The Asia Foundation and the HerStory Foundation have jointly launched a series of beautifully illustrated short stories featuring amazing and resilient Bengali women to inspire young girls and boys in Bangladesh and across the world.
The e-book series is adapted from “HerStories: Adventures of Supergirls,” a two-volume print book that highlights the lives of women trailblazers from East Bengal and Bangladesh, according to a media statement on Wednesday.
Twelve stories from the book series were adapted for The Asia Foundation’s Let’s Read platform. Each story will be available for beginning readers in both Bangla and English.
All twelve books will be translated into more than 30 languages to inspire readers of all ages across Asia.
The iconic women include photojournalist Sayeda Khanam, summiteer Nishat Mazumdar, Advocate Kalpana Chakma and scientist Dr Firdausi Qadri among others.
“These are incredible stories of women who persevered and have impacted Bangladeshi society,” said Kazi Faisal Bin, The Asia Foundation’s country representative in Bangladesh.
“We’re thrilled to create this series with HerStories Foundation and bring these books to hundreds of thousands of girls and boys in Bangladesh through our Let’s Read initiative. These stories will inspire generations of children.”
“While bringing female role models to the forefront has been one of our core ideals, this initiative, in particular, has allowed us to do so by adapting to the new realities of today,” Zareen Mahmud Hosein, founder of HerStory Foundation, stated.
“By taking these stories to a digital platform that is accessible to all, we hope to lead by example, encouraging others to do the same,” she added.
To celebrate the launch of the series and the lives of these spectacular super girls, The Asia Foundation and HerStory Foundation will host live events featuring online drawing workshops and puppet readings on the Let’s Read Bangladesh and HerStories Facebook pages.
Every Friday at 6pm throughout the month of August, HerStory will live stream “Drawing HerStories,” workshops for children of ages 6 and up.
HerStories and Let’s Read Bangladesh will host live puppet shows on their Facebook pages in August three days a week --- every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday --- at 6pm. The shows will be organized in collaboration with the puppet theatre troupe Together We Can, founded by Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed, the puppeteer behind the character Ikri of Sisimpur.