Women who defy traditional norms are often subjected to discrimination, violence and exclusion. Sometimes, as in the case of activists, sex workers and artists, and just about any woman who resists the prescribed mould of what it means to be a woman, the defiance is intentional.

Other times, however, the defiance is a by-product of the often difficult task of survival, or even the quest to being true to oneself. Despite the many judgements, prejudices and multiple violations they face, women continue to work, live and strive to love according to their own design.

This, the fifth highly successful annual POWA Breaking the Silence collection, contains the three categories of poetry, short stories and personal essays. They describe the experience of living a life that defies prescribed boundaries, a life that deliberately, or as a consequence of survival, transgresses society’s defined norms.