This week we speak with Immi Tallgren and discuss a new book she has curated: Portraits of Women in International Law: New Names and Forgotten Faces?

Immi, a Senior Researcher at the University of Helsinki, has edited the book as a metaphorical exhibition. In this episode, we take a tour of Immi’s “Portrait Gallery of International Law” and uncover some of the remarkable lives and achievements of international law’s often overlooked and forgotten women.

With over 50 contributors from six continents, the book is a collection of biographies highlighting some of the women who shaped and informed international law and investigates the slow and late recognition of women within the profession.

We are introduced to inspiring women, such as the Japanese journalist Yayori Matsui who helped create the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery. As well as Shirley Hazzard, a young Australian typist at the United Nations, who became a best-selling author of fiction and essays.

For recommendations this week Immi points us to a book she is currently reading for her next project, Betsy Hartman’s Reproductive Rights and Wrongs. And on the lighter side, Immi suggests French comic book Une Histoire Du Droit International by Olivier Corten and Pierre Klein, a comic strip retracing the history of international law. And, we of course, recommend again Immi’s own book, Portraits of Women in International Law: New Names and Forgotten Faces?