Juliana Awada will launch “Raíces”, her first book, thus joining the list of former first ladies who turned to writing. The only difference between Mauricio Macri’s wife and the rest is in the theme. While personalities like Michelle Obama or Hillary Clinton published revelations about their life stories or moments of difficult political decisions, Awada points to tips for healthy living and healthy eating. It will have hard covers and it will cost 10 thousand pesos.
The fact that first ladies to release their own books is a tradition rooted fundamentally in American political culture. Without going any further, one of the most paradigmatic cases is that of Michelle Obama. The wife of Barack Obama, the first black President of the United States, has several publications made. Her best known book was “My story”, where she recounts her humble origins on the south side of Chicago, her story with her husband, her time in high-ranking positions, and the social work she has done with girls and women. The book was so successful that it also has its documentary version on the Netflix platform. she also wrote “Becoming”a motivational book for young readers, and, like Awada, one about healthy living: “American Grown”.
Hillary Clintonwife of former US president Billalso published several books, among which his memoirs “Living History” and “Difficult decisions”, where she narrates her experience as Secretary of State between 2009 and 2013. The latter even managed to occupy the first position on the New York Times bestseller list. In “What happened”, another of his texts, recounts her experience as a candidate for President. And her passion for her writing even led her to dare to fiction, with “State Terror” a thriller he made in collaboration with the acclaimed mystery writer, Louise Penny.
But American Democrats are not alone in having female writers. Barbara Bushwife George Bush Sr.He also wrote books. “c. Fred’s Story” was published in 1984 and is a book in which she talks about her own dog, Fred. The same was reprinted ten times. She though she also wrote her memoir, in 1994. And in 2003, “Reflections: Life After the White House.” and his daughter in law Laura, wife of George Bush Jr. wrote “Spoken from the heart” (“Speaking from the heart”), an autobiography that reveals some of the most controversial aspects of her husband’s presidency such as the invasion of iraq and his opposition to equality marriage.
In Latin America there are also examples of first lady writers. Beatriz Gutierrez Muller, wife of the Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is one of the paradigmatic cases, since he decided to disassociate himself from that figure and focused on writing about historical events. Gutierrez doctor in literary theory and journalist. And she published books like”Artificial memory in the true history of the conquest of New Spain”, text that was born from the research he carried out for the master’s degree at the Universidad Iberoamericana de Puebla; and a novel: “Long live the sun”, in which tells the story of a community founded on the shores of a jungle lagoon.
