I graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in theater with a focus on the classics and now live in Los Angeles with my husband and daughter. If our voices can span across genres, generations, and gender, then maybe, they can reach all corners of the Universe before it’s too late for us and our planet. When she shows signs of reaching puberty, before she can experience the blood loss of her first menstruation, the Kumari is dismissed and another little girl takes her place.

Humming with a vibrancy drawn from its West African inspired cultural elements, like food, dress and music, Lapite has created a grounded world that operates outside of the reader’s field of vision, complete and autonomous… Fast-paced, the book ambitiously tackles its world’s spiritual belief system, not just as a background theme but interwoven through the social systems and politics of its ruling court. Their influence was everywhere in the valley, but their showmanship was concentrated in the spectacular buildings they had created around their durbars and the votive pillars they had erected in front of certain temples with golden statues of themselves on top, kneeling in prayer. Just as suddenly, the child is gone, reabsorbed into the shadows, leaving only a flutter of red curtains. As the first Scions to bring all four houses together, they finally have a chance, but fighting a battle with the gods means great stakes and great consequences if they lose. But the facts remain shrouded in secrecy and closely guarded by the Living Goddess’s priests and caretakers.David Leeming is Emeritus Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut.

Goddess is a beautifully illustrated empowering children’s book about 50 female figures who have shaped belief.I do believe that there are a cohort of women here on Planet Earth right now who’ve incarnated to help carry Gaia into her 5 th dimension. Everyone in Nepal knows the story of how the Gorkha conqueror and his troops stole into Kathmandu at night during the festival of Indra Jatra while the population of the city was riotously drunk and Jaya Prakasha Malla was accompanying the Living Goddess on her procession in her temple chariot around the city streets. As for international markets in languages other than English, as usual the pub date depends on how quickly the publishers can get the book translated and into your hands for your country. Growing up in the Philippines, I had to deal with many of the same emotions that the characters on this list go through.

Behind it is her throne room, the most powerful place in the whole building – a ceremonial chamber reserved for rituals conducted by tantric priests and attended by the king. From demanding respect and recognising unhealthy relationships, to standing your ground, helping others and using words instead of violence, these rich and sometimes forgotten female stories of the ancient past teach girls and young women everything they need to know, so they can be just as fierce and fearless in the future. This is what baking, what all of this book, is about: feeling good, wafting along in the warm, sweet-smelling air, unwinding, no longer being entirely an office creature; and that's exactly what I mean when I talk about 'comfort cooking'.Some, on the other hand, insisted that sex is the only way these degraded goddesses can earn a living and claimed that ex-Kumaris are trafficked, along with thousands of other girls from Nepal, to brothels in Mumbai or Bangkok. Especially now, it’s relevant to move our planet into a more sustainable, spiritual, and connected way. First published in 1948, the book is based on earlier articles published in Wales magazine; corrected, revised and enlarged editions appeared in 1948, 1952 and 1961. She has been immortalised on page and screen – even a ballet – and more recently dubbed “Badass of the Week” online.

In the stunning conclusion to Josephine Angelini's Starcrossed series, Goddess, the gods finally get a taste of their own medicine. Gardiner, I have to express my deepest admiration and respect for the work you have crafted in Goddess. Journey from Alaska to Mesopotamia, and ancient Rome to Tibet, and follow the goddess from creator to crone in a collection where myth and art combine.

Kalothia has grown up in the shadows of her kingdom, hidden away in the East after her parents were outed as enemies of the king. Or, being virginal, she was a version of the Madonna – ‘meek and submissive’, ‘without sin’, ‘untainted by adult desires’. Along the way we came across brilliantly varied examples of how goddesses have been approached in fiction, sometimes revelling in the divine spotlight and sometimes in more background roles. When Agnes begins to discover who Geia really is, she realizes it’s up to her to protect the other women at the summit from an unexpected and unwelcome fate. Half-British Reaper, half-Japanese Shinigami, Ren starts off the book living in London but never quite feels like she belongs there.