Fair Trade
Marketplace: For home goods, specialty items, gifts, and more, start your shopping with the Marketplace of Together Women Rise. You support the hard work of artisans from around the world, and a portion of your purchase is returned to further the work of Together Women Rise. See the full list here. If you are a vendor and are interested in participating, review our Cause Marketing Guidelines and submit a proposal here.
Investing in women is the basis for prosperity and peace in our world, and the Women’s Peace Collection is doing its part. Each item in this online, fair-trade store speaks to this hopeful vision: women’s hands are a force for peace. The site sells jewelry, scarves, baskets, bags and more made by women from around the world who are rebuilding their lives in the shadows of war, civil strife or crippling poverty. All of the products are handcrafted, sustainable and will help empower women entrepreneurs. Together Women Rise receives 10% of the purchase price by mentioning Together Women Rise in the “Note to Women’s Peace Collection” during checkout. Visit Women’s Peace Collection here.
Books
Fiction
Author: Sofia Robleda (2024)
Set during the Spanish conquest of Guatemala, Daughter of Fire tells the gripping story of Catalina de Cerrato, a courageous young woman torn between her Spanish father’s world and her late Maya mother’s legacy. Determined to protect the lost sacred text of the Popol Vuh from colonial erasure, Catalina embarks on a journey of resistance, identity, and cultural survival. This lyrical debut is as bold as its heroine, illuminating a chapter of Guatemalan history too often silenced.
Author: Jared Lemus (2025)
This vibrant short story collection pulses with the heart of Guatemala – both at home and in diaspora. Lemus captures the emotional highs and lows of young men and women navigating migration, family tension, and the quiet rituals that shape identity. With wit, grit, and tenderness, Guatemalan Rhapsody invites readers into the everyday lives of characters who are often overlooked, yet unforgettable.
Non-Fiction
The Mayans Among Us: Migrant Women and Meatpacking on the Great Plains
Author: Ann L. Sittig & Martha Florinda González (2016)
This compelling oral history brings to light the lives of Maya women who leave Guatemala for jobs in U.S. meatpacking plants – only to find themselves navigating new worlds of exploitation, resilience, and transformation. Through deeply personal stories, The Mayans Among Us reveals how culture, identity, and strength endure across borders.
Enduring Violence: Ladina Women’s Lives in Guatemala
Author: Cecilia Menjívar (2011)
In this groundbreaking ethnography, Menjívar goes beyond headlines to examine how violence quietly shapes the lives of Ladina women in Guatemala – not just in moments of crisis, but in everyday systems of inequality. Powerful and nuanced, Enduring Violence is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the roots of gender-based injustice in Central America.
Films
Education in Guatemala: Privilege or Right?
TEDx Talk by Julissa Rebeca Torres
In this stirring 10-minute talk, Julissa Torres shares how growing up in Guatemala shaped her views on gender, education, and opportunity. Her personal story is a call to action and a testament to what can happen when girls are given the chance to lead.
Francesca Kennedy: Finding Hope in Murky Water
TED Talk
After witnessing the polluted waters of Lake Atitlán, Francesca Kennedy was inspired to launch a sustainable fashion brand that now supports hundreds of Guatemalan artisans, mostly women. This quick yet powerful talk shows how small ideas, rooted in empathy, can ripple into wide-reaching change.
Feature Film directed by Jayro Bustamante (2015)
Set against the majestic backdrop of a Guatemalan volcano, Ixcanul tells the poignant story of María, a 17-year-old Kaqchikel Maya girl navigating tradition, motherhood, and modern-day challenges. The first film produced in the Kaqchikel language, this internationally acclaimed feature offers an intimate and unflinching look at indigenous life in Guatemala and the systemic forces that shape it.
Music
Guatemala’s national instrument, recorded at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC.
21 Days of Musica Latina: Guatemala
This feature from NPR’s World Café, includes a Spotify playlist of Guatemalan music, as well as information about the inclusion of the marimba in popular music.
