Roger Tagholm
Melinda Gates, who with her husband the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, runs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – the largest philanthropic body in the world – has written her first book, a powerful polemic on women’s empowerment.
Entitled Walking Each Other Home: How to Empower Women and Change the World, it was acquired by Macmillan US imprint Flatiron Books which has World English and translation rights. Witt Phillips, assistant manager, international rights at Flatiron, confirmed that Arabic rights had not yet been sold.
The title will be published in the UK by Macmillan UK imprint Bluebird. Both Flatiron and Bluebird will publish in April 2019. Flatiron says: “In this candid and inspiring book, Gates traces her awakening to the link between women’s empowerment and the well-being of societies. She shows some of the tremendous opportunities that exist right now to accelerate change. And she provides simple and effective ways each one of us can make a difference.”
Flatiron president Bob Miller says: “Melinda Gates’s extraordinary work has helped improve the lives of women and families around the world. We’re honoured to publish this important book, which couldn’t be more timely—or more needed.”
Co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest private foundation in the world, Melinda Gates has dedicated her life to achieving transformational improvements in the health and prosperity of families, communities, and societies. Core to her work is empowering women and girls to help them realize their full potential. In 2015, Melinda created Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company that enables her to bring together other new and emerging strands of her advocacy and philanthropic work focused in the US.
Melinda Gates received a bachelor’s degree from Duke University in north Carolina and an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. After joining Microsoft Corp. in 1987, she helped develop many of the company’s multimedia products. In 1996, Melinda left Microsoft to focus on her philanthropic work and family. Her book is already seeing much international interest.