This book is a timely study of young women’s life writing as a form of human rights activism. It focuses on six young women who suffered human rights violations when they were girls and have gone on to become activists through life writing: Malala Yousafzai, Hyeonseo Lee, Yeonmi Park, Bana Alabed, Nujeen Mustafa, and Nadia Murad. Their ongoing life-writing projects diverge to some extent, but all share several notable features: they claim a testimonial collective voice, they deploy rights discourse, they excite humanitarian emotions, they link up their context-bound plight with bigger social justice causes, and they use English as their vehicle of self-expression and self-construction. This strategic use of English is of vital importance, as it has brought them together as icons in the public sphere within the last six years. New Forms of Self-Narration is the first ever attempt to explore all these activists’ life-writing texts side by side, encompassing both the written andthe audiovisual material, online and offline, and taking all texts as belonging to a unique, single, though multifaceted, project.

“This dense and useful book highlights and reflects upon the narrative strategies employed in such storytelling to gain both audiences and empathy. … by offering this timely overview of life writing by young women activists from the Global South, Martinez Garcia has pried open a door that has long needed opening.” (Meg Jensen, Biography, Vol. 46 (2), 2023)

Ana Belén Martínez García researches human rights life writing by young women activists at the University of Navarra, Spain. She is a member of the International Auto/Biography Association, the IABA-SNS (Students and New Scholars) Network, AEDEAN (Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies), and ISSN (International Society for the Study of Narrative).