Happy birthday, Virago!

Our friends at Virago are celebrating their 40th birthday today – that’s an awful lot of books which, frankly, can only be a good thing.

Virago’s thing is publishing books by women, telling their stories and championing female talent in a sector that can still need a few nudges to do the right thing (yes, we’re looking at you, London Review of Books). Since 1973, they’ve published books by a quite astounding array of top authors: Margaret Atwood, Maya Angelou, Joan Bakewell, Nina Bawden, Stella Duffy, Linda Grant, Claire Messud, Kate Mosse, Frances Osborne, Hannah Rothschild, Sandi Toksvig, Tracey Thorn, Naomi Wolf and Sarah Waters gives you an idea of the calibre.

To celebrate their birthday, Virago has issued a free ebook for download, in which 40 of their authors have written something inspired by the number 40. The list above are just some of the amazing writers who have contributed to the volume. If there’s space on your Kindle for another title (and when isn’t there?), it’s available for download here.

Happy birthday, Virago – and here’s to the next 40 years of brilliant books.