Memoir chronicling the lives of Bolivian women battling the patriarchy to discover themselves to be launched
As a young Methodist Minister, Maggie Stringer took up a posting in Bolivia hoping to embrace a new culture and investigate the interconnection of wealth, power and gender.
What she encountered was the stark reality of the country’s impoverished barrios, where she found the women she had been sent to work with had been left disenfranchised by a deeply patriarchal society.
Breaking Barriers, Maggie’s powerful memoir, reveals how despite the centuries-old cultural norms intended to silence them, Bolivia’s women refused to accept the limitations they faced.
Maggie will be telling her – and their story – at the Theatr Gwaun in Pembrokeshire’s Fishguard on September 25.
During the 45-minute event, she will be interviewed by experienced literary interviewer, Mike Ponsford, before chatting about her life in Bolivia with her friend Jo.
The conversation will take place at Martha's in the theatre, and will be followed by the film, 'On Falling'.
The venue is a million miles away from those Bolivian barrios where she found resilience, strength and entrepreneurship in the midst of a community that had been subject to domestic abuse and the confines of bonds formed by men and the church.
But just as in her memoir, Maggie will be transporting readers into a world that opened her eyes to both the resilience inherent in women and the barriers which hold them back.
Bolivia was bright, brave, bustling. Maggie was surrounded by incredible women pushing back against patriarchal boundaries to create community, their own businesses and personal wealth.
It was dark and depressing. Domestic abuse and the shackles of pre-defined roles dictating every moment.
As the Minister sent by the church to work with those women, Maggie had to navigate a complicated series of networks, empowering them while keeping the powers that held her own future in their hands at bay.
Breaking Barriers is Maggie's intoxicating story of a society overcoming oppression; it is about embracing uncertainty, finding strength in adversity, and redefining freedom on one’s own terms.
Tickets for the book launch event cost £5 and can be booked via the Theatr Gwaun by emailing [email protected] or calling 01348 873421.