Mineke Schipper

Mineke Schipper is a cultural historian and writer. She is the author of seven critically acclaimed works including Never Marry a Woman with Big Feet: Women in Proverbs from Around the World and The Shrinking Goddess: Power, Myth and the Female Body. Her writing has appeared in The Times, El Mundo and the Los Angeles Times, among others. She served as International Secretary of Dutch PEN and Chair of Index on Censorship Nederland, and is currently Emeritus Professor of Intercultural Literary Studies at the University of Leiden, with visiting professorships in Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso and China. Schipper has received a Royal Order of Knighthood for her contribution to social and cultural studies.