History rarely forgets events. It forgets people. Often it forgets women. Their quiet endurance, their unnoticed rebellion, the way they carried entire worlds without recognition.
The celebration of women’s lives should not be restricted to one day a year. But on March 8, celebrating them becomes more intentional. International Women’s Day encourages us to pay close attention to the lives of women, fictional and factual, who came before us.
Genevieve Graham is sometimes called “the reigning queen of Canadian historical fiction.” She writes stories of women who were not in the forefront of society and didn’t have much of a voice. As a full-time writer, now residing in Lac Ste. Anne, Graham spends her days channelling the lives of the women who came before her.
“I focus on the women who were never talked about, the ones that did not set out to be extraordinary but were trying to survive and protect the people they love,” Graham says. “International Women’s Day sheds light on regular women who did not have what they needed to shine.”
Her most recent release, On Isabella Street, takes place during a time of social upheaval. While researching material for her novel, she dove deep into women’s social roles in Canada’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The story follows two fictional women who could not be more opposite: Marion Hart, a psychiatrist who fights against deinstitutionalization — the shutting down of mental institutions — and Sassy Rankin, a privileged idealistic hippie, who challenges everything she sees around her. She writes them not as background characters but as moral centres of the history itself.
“Women are historically in the shadows, especially during wars, we were used to doing things in the background,” Graham says. “We had this gentle resilience to be who we knew we could be, women really did shape the world through that resilience.”
Rosy, the protagonist of her upcoming mystery novel, The Chambermaid’s Key, accurately represents the historical experience of women of the day. “Rosy is not loud, she is not political, she wants security. She wants a future and she knows that none of these things are within her reach unless she very quietly goes beneath the surface and works her tail off to make it work,” Graham says.
Women are shaped from their determination to build a better life even when the odds are stacked against them. Graham does not only revisit the past but restores the identities of the regular women that history has forgotten about.
Graham’s voice is not the only one who is shaping the way women’s stories are told. These Edmonton authors are also creating space for women’s narrative on their pages.
Stories of Métis Women: Tales My Kookum Told Me Women by Bailey Oster
Bailey Oster shares a collection of stories of Métis women, in their own words, from colonialism, patriarchy and cultural displacement. This book honours the guidance, support and love these women have never stopped sharing with their community. Oster restores a space that was lost for them.
Songs From This and That Country by Gail Sidonie Sobat
Gail Sidonie Sobat shares a tale of South Slavic immigrant women across generations. They are not only fighting for survival but also navigating the effects of war and displacement they cannot escape. This historical fiction shows the silence, trauma and strength that these women carry with them from one country to another.
Be Free: Mountains, Mishaps, and Miracles in Africa by Angela deJong
Through travel essays, this memoir tells a story of a woman who unlearns what she was told to be and begins deciding who she is. Angela deJong writes about her journey through Africa as a solo female backpacker. From hiking an active volcano in the Congo to coming face to face with a gorilla, deJong reclaims her personal autonomy during the trek.
The Shade Tree by Theresa Shea
In this historical fiction, two white sisters and a Black midwife confront and question systems of racism and misogyny in Jim Crow America — from Florida 1930 to Washington 1963. Shea celebrates women and shows how their strength is formed by having them create their own moral consciousness about the world around them.
At the core, these books are about the world women find themselves and the world they are creating for themselves. International Women’s Day encourages us to understand the lives of the women who came before us and continue to acknowledge the strength that we have inherited from them.
Well, here is one more book for your home, plus an event to tie it all together: Lauren Kyle McDavid recently released The Atelier Table, a design-inspired cookbook aimed to help home chefs stage and enjoy their own curated dinner parties. Owner of several businesses, she’s speaking at the Women + Wealth Gala 2026 on March 6. This event empowers and celebrates women who are redefining wealth and success. It aims to give women the tools, connections and knowledge they need to succeed in the business world.
Women + Wealth Gala 2026 | March 6, 2026, 5 p.m. | Hall D, Edmonton Convention Centre
