In South Africa, 9 August is celebrated annually as the National Women’s Day.

This day in 1956 saw 20 000 women march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, calling for the pass laws to be abated.

In commemoration of this historic day, here are some must-reads by South African women, young and old, who have used their pen as a mighty sword in ways that inspire. All books are available from the Chancellor Oppenheimer Library and Special Collections or request online.

Image credit: South African History Online, www.sahistory.org.za
 

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	Gabeba Baderoon Books A hundred silences History of intimacy Dream in the next body Museum of ordinary life Image credit: Badilisha
Lauren Beukes Books Moxyland Slipping: stories, essays and other writings The Shining Girls Zoo City Image credit: Lauren Beukes
	Sindiwe Magona Books Beauty’s gift Chasing the tails of my father’s cattle Please, take photographs Living, loving and lying awake at night Umthi ngamnye unentlaka  yawo Mother to mother Image credit: Badilisha
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Books Half of a yellow sun Purple hibiscus: a novel The thing around your neck Americanah Image credit: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
	Ameera Patel Books Outside the lines Image credit: Badilisha
Penny Busetto Books The story of Anna P Image Credit: Frank Moody
	Panashe Chigumadzi Books Sweet medicine Image credit: Tarryn Hatchett