Because I Am a Girl

Seven writers, including Joanne Harris, Marie Phillips, and Irvine Welsh, spent time with a charity promoting the development of women and girls—and were inspired to write an extraordinary array of stories and essays that statistics cannot convey.

Because I am a girl I am less likely to go to school. Because I am a girl I am more likely to suffer from malnutrition. Because I am a girl I am more likely to suffer violence in the home. Because I am a girl I am more likely to marry and start a family before I reach my twenties. Seven authors have visited seven different countries and spoken to young women and girls about their lives, struggles and hopes. The result is an extraordinary collection of writings about prejudice, abuse, and neglect, but also about courage, resilience and changing attitudes. Proceeds from sales of this book will go to PLAN, one of the world's largest child-centered community development organisations.

Irvine Welsh tells a story of prostitutes in the Dominican Republic, while Xiaolu Guo tells of a policeman with a Khmer Rouge past. Marie Phillips takes on the sexual abuse of Ugandan schoolgirls—and the outcome of the abuse. Seven authors have visited seven different countries—Brazil, Togo, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Uganda, Ghana, and the Dominican Republic—and spoken to young women and girls about their lives, struggles, and hopes. The result is an extraordinary collection of writings based on the girls' true stories, about prejudice, abuse, and neglect, but also about courage, resilience, and changing attitudes.

About the Authors

Tim Butcher has worked for the Daily Telegraph since 1990 as foreign affairs leader writer, defence correspondent and Africa Bureau Chief.

Xiaolu Guo was born in a fishing village in south China and moved to London in 2002. Her books have been shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction.

Joanne Harris is the author of several books including the Whitbread-shortlisted Chocolat (made into a major film starring Juliette Binoche). She lives in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, with her husband and daughter.

Kathy Lette is the author of ten international bestsellers including Foetal Attraction, Mad Cows and How to Kill Your Husband (and Other Handy Household Hints). Her novels have been published in fourteen languages around the world. She lives in London with her husband and two children.

Deborah Moggach is the author of many successful novels including These Foolish Things, Tulip Fever, and, most recently, In the Dark. Her screenplays include the film of Pride and Prejudice, which was nominated for a BAFTA. She lives in North London.

Marie Phillips studied anthropology and documentary making, and worked as a TV researcher for several years. More recently she has worked as an independent bookseller whilst writing Gods Behaving Badly.

Irvine Welsh is the author of nine previous works of fiction, most recently Crime. He lives in Dublin.