Dear Reader,

First of all, I would like to welcome Francesca Arici and Olga Kuznetsova to the editorial team and to thank  Jasmin Raissy, who decided to step down,  for all the work she has done.

The EWM Newsletter is in general dedicated to the present: we interview mathematicians and highlight current or future events. In this edition,  memory plays an important part.

2018 will be the 30th birthday of EWM and I thought it would be important to remember the beginnings of the association, in particular for people, as myself,  who were not there.  Laura Tedeschini Lalli told me fascinating stories,  full of energy, optimism and will to change things, so I asked her to share some of them here and Marjatta Näätäneen contributed her tale of the set-up of EWM as a Finnish association.

Moreover, 2017 has been the 30th birthday of femmes et mathématiques,  the slightly older ‘sister’ of EWM and   Colette Guillopé reported for us about the celebrations.

And, sadly, this year  Maryam Mirzakhani, a great mathematician and first woman awarded a Fields medal, passed away. We remember her with a beautiful article by Ami Radunskaya,   President of the Association for Women in Mathematics.

Back to the present, we report on   meetings and ongoing projects and we interview Sara Van der Geer, from ETH Zürich, together with Maryna Vyazoska, EPFL Lausanne and Sara Zahedi from KTH Stockolm. And,  as a suggestion for a thrilling read during the winter break,  Mihaela Pricop-Jeckstadt  reviews   A Life in Code by G. Stuart Smith, the fascinating tale of life and adventures of Elisbeth Friedman, pioneer of cryptography.

Finally, we thought  it is time to give the Newsletter  new clothes: we hope you like  the new look.

With best wishes for the new year,

Anna Maria Cherubini

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