4 She Who Dares Many people are creative and enjoy making beautiful works of art Art can be paintings and drawings But it can also take the form of music dance literature movies fashion and even architecture Art is all around us There are many reasons people choose to create art Some people use art as an escape from the troubles in their lives while others create art to tell stories or convey important messages No matter the reason people use art to express themselves Showing the world who you are is important How do you express yourself
THE WORK OF WONDERFUL WOMEN Women have interesting and amazing lives with their own stories to tell Throughout history many women have turned to art to create incredible things and show the world their talents However it has not always been easy for women in the arts Many daring women have had to break through barriers But they have found strength in their creativity Some women even use their art to help others Breaking through barriers takes lots of bravery and courage How do you find strength when you are facing a challenge 5
6 Murasaki Shikibu AMAZING AUTHOR Born Around 978 CE Died Around 1014 CE Murasaki Shikibu was born in Kyōto Japan Because her family was rich Shikibu was allowed to learn things that were usually taught only to boys She studied many languages and learned to write beautiful poems Shikibu's poems were so good that she was offered a job working for the empress of Japan She used her language skills to teach the empress Chinese poetry As well as writing poems Shikibu kept a diary
While Shikibu was working for the empress she learned a lot about the lives of the Japanese nobility She used this knowledge to write a story Shikibu's story is thought to be the world's very first novel Shikibu's story included some poems Murasaki Shikibu was not actually this author's name It is the name of a character in her novel The writer's real name is lost to time 7
