Maya Cohen-Ronen: Activist & Published Author

Maya Cohen-Ronen (pen name M. C Ronen) is a New Zealand vegan of nine years and animal rights activist. When she isn’t bearing witness outside the local slaughterhouse or protesting, she is a business analyst, a mother of two children, two dogs and one rabbit, and a published author.

The final instalment of her ‘Liberation Trilogy’, a series of dystopian suspense books for vegans and pre-vegans, was published in July.

As a mother, it never occurred to me that all mammalian females must be pregnant first in order to lactate, just like me. That was my watershed moment.

What made you go vegan?

When he was a wee toddler, my son developed a keen interest in sharks. Back then I hardly knew anything about sharks and could barely name more than three. Through the marvel of his fascination, a new world had opened to me. I decided to foster and nurture his interest and joined him, diving into this wonderful world of animals unbeknown to me. From that point, the rout to Sea Shepherd was short. I learned what they did to preserve and defend the oceans and became a big supporter. Through them, I was finally exposed to the shocking extent of the atrocities perpetuated on oceanic lives. My son was young, but in my imagination, he would be grown, and we’d be braving the elements on a Sea Shepherd ship in the Southern Ocean, chasing whalers with rage and purpose. But then, to my surprise, I read somewhere that all Sea Shepherd ships were strictly vegan. Erm… what? Defending whales was all well and good but being vegan? Why be so… well… extreme? I decided to research it. I looked for vegan sites and read everything I could find. Lo and behold, it turned out the cows don’t really ‘give us milk’ after all… and the chicken, they don’t ‘give us eggs’… I was embarrassed at the level of my own ignorance. As a mother, it never occurred to me that all mammalian females must be pregnant first in order to lactate, just like me. That was my watershed moment. I decided to go vegan, no detours or baby steps. My husband, then a vegetarian, followed me and the entire household became vegan. It’s been nine years since.

You are also an animal rights activist. What forms of activism do you engage in?

I follow the phrase ‘doing nothing does harm’. Soon after becoming vegan, I felt the burning need to speak up for the animals. Being vegan wasn’t enough. I didn’t know anyone in my neighbourhood who was vegan or an activist, but I assumed there were activities held. I checked online and sure enough, I joined a vigil on the highway just outside the local slaughterhouse. That was my first action. Since then I joined many others. Be it a vigil, bearing witness, a demo, a food-based outreach, a protests, a march, a cube or social-media posts, I would willingly support and participate in any form of activism, with these two provisions: (1) That it is non-violent, even if it is a social disruption. The violence might be directed at us, but not perpetuated by us; and (2) That I can see how it benefits the cause. I strongly believe that anyone can do something. It doesn’t have to be holding a sign in public, there are many ways to contribute. My ‘business as usual’ main activities are through my involvement with the local Animal Save chapter, and through my writing.

What made you write your books?

If you are a bookworm like me, or even an occasional reader, you may have faced with this issue yourself – you pick up a book that was recommended to you by someone, or maybe a best seller which created a lot of hype in the media, and just as you dive into it, you are faced with the sour truth: The obvious embedded animal cruelty and speciesism of it. It might be the mention of a bacon breakfast here or a chicken sandwich there, a heroine who hunts animals, a protagonist who loves wearing leather… It is everywhere, unavoidable, and deeply frustrating.

I found that I just couldn’t enjoy reading anymore. I have a particular taste for Young-Adults and New- Adults dystopian suspense with twists and surprises, but every book is filled with animal cruelty sentiments. So, at one point I decidedif it doesn’t exist, I’ll write it myself!

As a vegan and as an activist it was important to me to create fiction books that have a clear ethical undertone and message, but that could easily appeal to pre-vegans as well. I basically wrote the books I wanted to read myself, with the added value of them being an extension of my activism and a form of outreach. These books are trying to give our cause a voice within mainstream literature.

You say your books are ‘ethical fiction’- what does that mean?

It simply means I write stories that have an ethical engine room, namely, they have a vegan message that applies to both vegans and pre-vegans. The books have been very effective in making pre-vegans think about their ethical choices. I get messages from readers who tell me enthusiastically that they couldn’t stop thinking about the story, that they were changing their ways as a result, and were sharing the books with their friends and family members to help people around them connect the dots as well.

What influenced you to choose to write the story about sunny, a girl on a farm?

As a child I loved the book Animal Farm by George Orwell. I watched the animated film as well and it really impacted me. I loved how Orwell used the farm animals to tell a tale about humans and their social orders and behaviours (it was an anti-Stalinist story). My books were influenced by his approach, however reversed it. I use humans to tell a tale about animals and how we treat them.

You also Identify as a feminist

That’s right. I was raised by a strong mother, who would say to me things like ‘I’m not a feminist, but…‘ and then list all the feminist reasoning to why women are equal and should have equal rights and opportunities. She raised me to know my worth and value are not connected to my sex. It is only as I grew up that I identified as a feminist. My mum belonged to a society that frowned upon the word “feminist”, with all of its false negative connotations, and yet, the essence of my strength and sense of social-worth stem from the very feminist manner by which she had raised me. I broke the chains of shame and assumed the title with great pride. This feminist identity had led me to I choose to study my postgraduate degree in Gender and Society. I was eager to broaden my understanding of what it meant to me, what it meant to other communities, what it meant historically, and what it might mean in the future. To me, being a feminist and supporting broader concepts of human equality and rights was always a matter of ethical course. It is possible that this state of mind, carefully nurtured by the University of Edinburgh, was the fertile ground that allowed the broadening of my rights-based approach beyond the human animal. When the connections were made, everything fell into place. All oppressions are interconnected. Does it truly matter if the female whose sexual organs are perpetually exploited is a human or a bovine? Abuse is abuse.

We are all Earthlings.

My books are very much the result of my feminism and animal rights activism coming together.

In other words, the bleak future of my books began with our own generation, our own doing.

Are there any other hidden messages in your books?

There is quite the emphasis on climate change as well. The story takes place in a futuristic dystopian world, very sparsely inhabited, with nearly all human population wiped out and the animal kingdom thought to be fully extinct. It is made clear in the books that the cataclysmic events which brought about such a brutal future, generally named as ‘The Catastrophes’, can be traced back to such things as the burning of the Amazon Rainforest. In other words, the bleak future of my books began with our own generation, our own doing.

What would be your advice to readers of this magazine Who might want to write?

Believe in yourself, trust your skills and do it. We desperately need more vegan fiction writers to flood the market with powerful ethical stories.

Can you share a short synopsis about the books?

The Shed tells the story of Sunny, a girl living in a community on a farm in a seemingly apocalyptic world. The farm has strict rules that are firmly observed, and especially the rule that girls like Sunny must not enter The Shed, an impending building inside the farm. Only grown women are allowed in, but even then, some who go in never come back. One night the farm is raided, and some are taken. A few years later, when Sunny’s friends are summoned to The Shed, Sunny‘s mother orders her to escape. But Sunny’s path of escape still leads her right inside The Shed. What will she find there? Why was the farm raided and what world awaits beyond it?

Liberation returns to Sunny who is now an activist who fights to liberate other slaves from their hopeless, grim destiny. The dangerous and relentless battle for total liberation provides for many suspenseful encounters, as well as several unexpected discoveries. As romance buds in the activists’ bunker, an old villain returns to Sunny’s life through an unexpected turn of events, with the promise that she had changed. But can she be trusted?

The final book of the trilogy, It was in our Hands, now sees Sunny as a seasoned, long-time activist who fights to liberate enslaved and exploited victims, is herself an escapee from a farm where she was kept as a slave. Years of battling for total liberation did not dampen her highly developed sense of justice. But time has come to take the fight into a brandnew arena – the treacherous political one. Could the Liberation Amendment be passed into law? And if so, at what cost?

The Liberation saga powerfully ends with this eventful, emotional rollercoaster. A tale of love, loss, violence, bravery, compassion and friendship.

What does the future hold for you, now that the trilogy is complete?

Since ‘The Shed’ came out I’ve been continuously receiving feedback telling me how perfectly the story would translate into a film or a TV series. I’m currently pursuing this avenue. I started drafting a script based on The Shed, and hopefully it will progress. Potentially, Sunny’s future could be very exciting.

The books are available via Amazon (Amazon UK and other worldwide Amazon stores) as well as a variety of other on-line retailers.

Find Maya on Facebook

www.facebook.com/MCRonen

and Instagram

@mcronen_activist_author

M. C RONEN

The LIBERATION Trilogy

It Was In Our Hands - the final book of The Liberation Trilogy by vegan, animal rights activist M. C Ronen, was finally published on 15 July!

The Liberation Trilogy (‘The Shed’, ‘Liberation’ and ‘It Was In Our Hands’) is a unique, first of its kind creation of ethical fiction. In this breathtaking dystopia, the reader follows the protagonist Sunny from her days as a young girl, growing up in an ominous and oddly guarded, isolated farm - an d all the way to becoming a leader of a courageous team of activists whose aim is achieving ‘Total Liberation’ for all who are abused, exploited and brutally oppressed. Each book in this trilogy has its own tone and pace, but all three are suspenseful page-turners that are sure to keep you at the edge of your seat. Most importantly, they are sure to make you think about the real world in which we live, and the implications of your daily choices.