We now have over 300 recorded readings in the Shared Stories bank

The Shared Stories project, which was launched in 2022 and aims to highlight the talent and legacy of women in Catalan, Spanish, Basque and Galician literature, now contains over 300 recorded readings. The fourth campaign was launched in April to mark Sant Jordi's Day, Catalonia's day of books and roses, with the challenge of creating "100 recorded readings in 100 days".

The initiative – organized by the Library of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) in partnership with the library of the Camilo José Cela University (UCJC), with the participation of the UOC's Culture department – seeks to increase public recognition of female authors writing in Catalan, Spanish, Galician and Basque in the history of literature.

The deadline for participating is 17 September, which is the date on which the project's fourth campaign will come to an end. You will find all the information about how to participate in the Library's web page for the project: all you have to do is choose a text from the list of authors and extracts available, and sign up for the campaign. You can record your reading at home, using any device, following the technical recommendations that ensure good audio quality.

Major involvement of the literary world in this edition

Several authors writing in Catalan, Spanish, Basque and Galician have joined forces to invite the reading community to restore the voices of forgotten great female writers. The Basque writer Alaine Agirre, the Bolivian Giovanna Rivero and the Catalans Núria Pradas and Irene Rodrigo have decided to highlight and emphasize the initiative by expressing their support and taking part. "It's a beautiful initiative to raise awareness of the great works by Catalan, Spanish, Basque and Galician authors", explained Núria Pradas.

Her voice has also been joined by those of advocates including Aina Posada and the booktokers Laia Bonjoch, of Els Book Hunters, and Mireia, whose profile is @Sofamantaylibros. They have all invited the literary world to join the Shared Stories project.

 

The organizers of the Dona i Arxiu (Woman and Archive) project, Fàtima Anglada, Bego Bonet, Raquel de Manuel Mur and Paola Cibin, have also made significant contributions. They are all members of the Beta Teatre theatre company based in Menorca – a micro-theatre initiative that brings the experiences of women throughout history to the stage. Their readings are now part of the UOC's audio bank.

A project fighting against exclusion

The importance of initiatives like this one has also been highlighted by experts at the UOC. Maria Lacueva, a member of the UOC's Faculty of Arts and Humanities and a researcher belonging to the GRESOL research group, pointed out that "contrary to what is often believed, women have written over the centuries, and many were very well respected among their contemporaries. However, sexist prejudices and barriers to their access to the public realm meant that much of their output remained in the private domain, and it was impossible to establish networks or genealogies like for male writers. This has contributed to a literary historiography that's been built on an exclusive canon that has responded to the tastes and values of a white male elite ever since the 19th century."

Lacueva pointed out that, in 2025, "this construct is beginning to change thanks to literary research and the opportunities provided by new technologies to restore, edit and publish forgotten works. In this context, projects like Shared Stories not only make these female authors more visible, but also provide an educational tool with vast potential, and they can create synergies with European initiatives such as Women's Legacy," thereby increasing the impact of these silenced voices.

Meanwhile, Teresa Iribarren, a professor in the UOC's Faculty of Arts and Humanities and a researcher with the GRESOL research group, highlighted the importance of this type of initiative in the fight against cryptogyny, the phenomenon that involves diminishing or concealing women's roles in various areas throughout history. "These projects not only restore texts that had been relegated to a secondary role, but also offer an accessible platform for discovering new female voices. So Shared Stories contributes to remedying the traditional biases of our literary heritage in order to make it more comprehensive, rich and equitable."

Four editions giving voice to women authors

The project has received 90 new recordings to date, a figure that consolidates the community's interest in contributing to the initiative and giving a voice to forgotten female authors.

"The project is growing every year thanks to the involvement of people who share a commitment to highlighting women's literary legacy both in the UOC community and beyond it," explained Lluís Rius of the UOC's Culture department.

"The bank of recorded readings now contains hundreds of voices that bring the words of women writers to life. This campaign has established links with contemporary female writers, influencers, libraries and projects, and by doing so has expanded the initiative's impact and scope and created partnerships and synergies with other libraries and cultural institutions, said Mireia Castillón, UOC Library specialist in equality, diversity and inclusion.

The current campaign will continue until 17 September. The community can continue to participate with new readings until that date. Contributions can be submitted through the form available on the Library's website, and are added to the audio bank of the Shared Stories project, which contains all the voices and extracts that have been read.

Experts

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  Mireia Castillón

  Operative subgroup: Law and Political Science resource manager, vocational training, gender perspective Operative group: Library for Learning