Hear Us Roar - changing the game for emerging women football writers

For those of you old enough to remember Helen Reddy's anthem, it's hardly a surprise that we would use the first line from it for the title of our latest release.

"I am woman, Hear me roar" is the inspiration for Hear Us Roar - an anthology of emerging women football writers which comprises 17 stories from women in 11 countries with contributions that relate to player interviews, the business of football, women’s football development, fiction, and personal stories.
 
The selected contributors are from every continent (except Australia from where there were no entrants!) with the writers coming from Brazil, Cameroon, Congo, England, Fiji, Germany, Ireland, Kenya, Pakistan, Scotland, and the USA.
 
They were selected from an inbox full of entries by an international judging panel comprising journalists and authors from Australia, the UK, Nigeria, Egypt, and Argentina.
 
Four of the contributors - Olga Bagatini from Brazil, Steffany Wangari Ndei from Kenya, Alina Ruprecht from Germany, and Flora Snelson from England - will be among the featured guests at the Football Writers’ Festival to be held in Sydney from 15-17th July.
 
The complete list of articles and their authors are:
 
Players

• Sissi—the unsung hero of Brazilian women’s football by Olga Bagatini, Brazil
• Keeping the Hope Alive by Natasha Raheel, Pakistan
• From Rejection to Stardom by Cassandra Kimaka, Cameroon

Developing Women’s Football​

• The Development of Women’s Football in Cameroon by Chansiline Nanze, Cameroon
• Coconut Football—A bitter-sweet relationship by Adi Arieta Tinai, Fiji
• For Women Only: Unique Issues for Women in Football by Neilley Ebessa, Cameroon
• The Shine of Girls and Women in Brazilian Soccer—An illustrated story by Nathalia Servadio, Brazil

Changing the Game

• Game Changers: How Viktoria Berlin is revolutionising women’s football by Alina Ruprecht, Germany
• Boardroom to Bleachers by Rebecca Ngoie, Congo
• Football Fandom by Luca Marie Wodtke, Germany
• Virtual Turnstiles by Caroline Stefko, USA
• Racism in Women’s Football—Why is it still happening? by Francesca Lever, England

Fiction​

• Sidelines by Olivia Barber, England
• Izzy’s Magical Soccer Adventure by Emma Larkin, Ireland

Personal Stories

• My Love is for the Red, Red Rose by Amy Canavan, Scotland
• Three Goals That Changed Me by Flora Snelson, England
• Football. Bloody Hell. by Steffany Wangari Ndei, Kenya

By the way, we thought this was such a good idea that we wrote to both FIFA and the LOC for this year's World Cup way back in 2021 suggesting that they run the global competition for emerging women football writers to coincide with the 2023 World Cup. We realised after 11 months that they were never going to respond, so we just did it ourselves.

As Helen Reddy sang, "no-one's ever gonna keep us down again". And here we are.

Other than a stipend to each of the 17 contributors, all proceeds from Hear Us Roar will be shared between the Literacy for Life Foundation and Thomas Hitzlsperger's #Future4Nepal.

Please buy it now from us, good bookstores, or online outlets worldwide.