Her story: Women artists making waves

This week we hear from some of the women who’ve been making their mark in 2022. Danupha Khanatheerakul, known by her stage name Milli, is a 20-year-old Thai rapper. Last year she criticised the Thai government’s response to COVID 19 and was charged with defamation, which led to the hashtag #SaveMilli trending on social media. She’s been chosen as one of the BBC’s 100 Women, which is a celebration of inspiring and influential women who’ve contributed to our world in incredible ways. Milli told the BBC’s Valeria Perasso why she felt compelled to challenge Thai stereotypes and the government, and the impact of eating the Thai dessert of mango sticky rice onstage. The Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021 and since their return many aspects of women’s lives have been curtailed, including the ability to study. Music and the arts have also been banned across the country. To mark the first anniversary of the Taliban takeover, singer songwriter Elaha Soroor, along with other Afghan diaspora creatives, launched ‘Fly with Me,’ a festival of music and kite flying that took place across Europe. In a conversation that was recorded before the Taliban ordered an indefinite ban on female higher education, Elaha spoke to the BBC Afghan journalist Sana Safi about the festival, and also about being a female singer in Afghanistan and her time on the TV talent show Afghan Star. The US poet Maggie Wang has won a number of awards this year including The Young Poets Network’s Poems to Solve the Climate Crisis Challenge and Our Whole Lives, We Are Protest: A Poetry Challenge Inspired by the People of 1381. She’s recently published her debut collection of poetry called The Sun on the Tip of a Snail’s Shell. She told the BBC’s Tina Daheley why she was drawn to creating poems highlighting the extinction of animals and plants.

(Photo: Milli)