By Sal Pizarro
Mercury News
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Two books which feature stories about women succeeding in fields traditionally dominated by men were selected by “Silicon Valley Reads” to help build an ongoing conversation about gender equity and inclusion.
Mercury News
Silicon Valley Reads will do its part next year to recognize the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States with a theme and book selections that celebrate the achievements of women.
The two books that will drive months of programs are “The Tenth Muse,” a novel by Catherine Chung, and “Alpha Girls: The Women Upstarts Who Took on Silicon Valley’s Male Culture and Made the Deals of a Lifetime,” a nonfiction book by Julian Guthrie.
They may sound very different, but they’re both stories about women succeeding in fields traditionally dominated by men.
“Each of us has experienced the power of collective action — the opportunity to join like-minded individuals to accomplish a common goal,” said Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools Mary Ann Dewan, who co-chairs the program with Santa Clara County Librarian Nancy Howe and San Jose Library Director Jill Bourne. “The featured books will help us build on a community conversation about the strength and courage necessary to fight for equity, diversity and inclusivity, and inspire our youth to do the same.”
The program, with the theme “Women Making It Happen,” kicks off Jan. 23 at De Anza College’s Visual and Performing Arts Center in Cupertino and includes more than 100 free events in February and March, including “Women Pathmakers,” an art exhibit at De Anza’s Euphrat Museum.
“Alpha Girls,” which is being adapted for a television series, should be especially resonant here since it tracks the careers and lives of four entrepreneurs in the Valley’s venture capital community who were important figures in the rise of companies including Facebook, Tesla, Trulia and Salesforce. Guthrie, an award-winning journalist formerly with the San Francisco Chronicle, said in a statement that she’s honored to have the book chosen.
“I can’t wait to share the inspiring, untold stories of incredible women who helped build some of the
foremost companies of our day,” she said.
Three companion books for younger readers were also announced around the same theme: “The Most Magnificent Thing,” a picture book by Ashley Spires, and two books by author Tanya Lee Stone, “Who Says Women Can’t Be Computer Programmers: The Story of Ada Lovelace,” and “Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared To Dream.”
More information on the program is available at www.siliconvalleyreads.org, and the full schedule will be posted by the end of the year.
___
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
