In a Toronto Star article last week, columnist Heather Mallick discussed British comedic feminist Caitlin Moran’s recent visit to Toronto and asked why Canadian feminism doesn’t have any figures who express similar sentiments culturally or politically.

“Where are Canada’s prominent young feminists?”, asks Mallick. They’re everywhere. If you don’t see them, the vast majority of whom are not glamorous white celebrities, there’s probably something else getting in the way. Canadian feminists work directly with local communities and rally for real change every single day and they don’t get nearly enough attention. There are a lot of amazing women in Canada who deserve to be spotlighted just as much as women like Moran. The online response to this piece reinforced this disparity. You can see some of the great dialogue stirred up by Mallick’s opinion piece on Twitter under the hashtag #canfem.

One collection that celebrates the stories of hardworking, inspiring feminists — many of whom are Canadian and women of colour — is Letters Lived: Radical reflections, revolutionary paths. Sheila Sampath, Editor at Shameless Magazine and Principle & Creative Director at The Public, took on the role of editor to a diverse group of international and cross-generational social justice activists who were asked to write a letter to their teen selves and reflect on the incredible journeys they have taken since.

We featured biographies on all 15 of these amazing feminists on our blog. You can read each contributor’s bio and short excerpts from their letters below.

Letters Lived contributor bios:

Grace Lee Boggs, Sheila Sampath, Victoria B. Robinson, Shea Howell, Juliet Jacques, Selma James, Elisha Lim, Rozena Maart, Lee Maracle, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Nina Power, Coco Riot, Cristy C. Road, Rae Spoon, and Kit Wilson-Yang.

Three O’Clock Press proudly represents over 30 years of published work by, for, and about women. We can attest to the strong tradition of Canadian feminism that has been making an impact for decades and doesn’t plan on slowing down any time soon.