10 female authors and recommendations of their work.
Female novelists from very different times and countries - all inspiring me and many others. Here are 10 of my favourites...
Margaret Atwood (November 18, 1939-)
Canadian. Feminist and environmental activist. Writing about women’s rights, gender, fertility, animal rights, political power.
Recommendation: The Handmaid’s Tale, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin
Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817)
English. Sharp-witted and ahead of her time. Writing about society, marriage, sisterhood, courtship, education, friendship, arts.
Recommendation: Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Mansfield Park
Harper Lee (April 28, 1926 – February 19, 2016)
American. Famous for having published only one novel (not counting Go Set a Watchman, which was only a draft) – but an amazing one. Writing about justice, legal system, racism, Deep South, coming of age, prejudice, family.
Recommendation: To Kill a Mockingbird
Charlotte Bronte (21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855)
English. Worked as a governess, wrote alongside her sisters Anne and Emily who were also published novelists, all of them using male pen names. Writing about education, developing society, friendship, women’s role, equality.
Recommendation: Jane Eyre, The Professor, Villette
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (15 September 1977-)
Nigerian-American. Inspiring and witty, successful TED talker. Writing about strong women, migration, racism, women’s rights, African culture, coming of age, friendship.
Recommendation: Americanah, Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun; The Thing around Your Neck (Short story collection); We Should All Be Feminists (Essay), “Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions” (Essay)
Elizabeth Gaskell (née Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865)
English. Victorian novelist, shedding light on women’s lives at the time. Writing about rules of society, reputation, gossip, women’s role, family, courtship.
Recommendation: Wives and Daughters, North and South, Cranford, Mary Barton, Ruth
Sally Rooney (20 February 1991-)
Irish. Young best-selling novelist. Writing about family conflicts, female writers, domestic abuse, mental health, relationships, coming of age.
Recommendation: Conversations with Friends, Normal People; Mr. Salary (short story)
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (née Godwin; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851)
English. Gothic novelist, wife of Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, daughter of feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. Writing about science, religion, moral conflict, education, gender.
Recommendation: Frankenstein
Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888)
American. Nurse in the American Civil War, abolitionist. Writing about strong women, sisterhood, women’s rights, political independence, coming of age, friendship.
Recommendation: Little Women, Good Wives
George Eliot (real name: Mary Ann Evans; 22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880)
English. One of the leading Victorian writers, journalists and poets. Writing about conventions of society, courtship, marriage, friendship, art, religion, education.
Recommendation: Middlemarch, Daniel Deronda