The Rebel Women of Sunderland is a project that shines a light on the lives of Rebel Women from Sunderland with specially commissioned artworks and stories.
The project was originally commissioned by Sunderland Culture for Heritage Open Day in 2019, in partnership with Open Heritage and Sunderland Heritage Action Zone and was inspired by the popular children’s book Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls which has celebrated the achievements of women around the world.
Nominations for Rebel Women of Sunderland were crowd-sourced through social media with over 100 nominations of inspirational women of the city.
Fourteen women were selected from past and present to represent the diversity of the achievements of the women of Sunderland.
Sunderland creatives, illustrator Kathryn Robertson, a recent graduate of University of Sunderland, and writer Jessica Andrews, who recently won the Portico Prize for her debut novel, Saltwater, were commissioned to produce portraits and tell the stories of the women.
This project is produced as part of Sunderland Culture’s Great Place programme, funded by Arts Council England and National Lottery Heritage Fund, and in partnership with Sunderland’s Heritage Action Zone and Open Heritage.
See the artworks and read the stories of each of the Rebel Women of Sunderland below: