Literature & Journalists
She wrote The Tale Of Genji, an early Japanese novel about the son of an ancient Japanese emperor. Murasaki was a lady-in-waiting in the Imperial Court of Japan and most likely wrote The Tale of Genji between the years 1000 and 1012.
Murasaki Shikibu
She was a famous 19th century novelist whose work remains popular to this day. Austen’s novels were successful enough to give her some independence, but her works were not associated with her name until after her death.
Jane Austen
Although not particularly well-known today, she was the first American woman to make her living as an author. In the years following the American Revolution, she wrote about religion and history. Adams was one of the first to portray religions and sects in terms their followers would use, a more modern and respectful approach.
Hannah Adams
She was a writer who wrote on many subjects and was notable in her time for publishing her works under her own name, rather than anonymously. She was a natural philosopher in the 17th century, long before women were educated formally on the subject.
Margaret Cavendish
She is one of America’s most famous and celebrated poets. She spent her life in Western Massachusetts during the mid-1800s, where she developed a reputation as an ‘eccentric’ due to her reluctance to comply with social expectations of the time.
Emily Dickinson
A trailblazing journalist who covered the Vietnam War, civil rights, and the white house, she was known as the “First Lady of the Black Press.” Payne simultaneously advocated for civil rights and reported on issues near & far.
Ethel L. Payne
She is best known for her children’s books such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Potter was also a botanist and conservationist, who furthered research on fungi. She also had strong business acumen, pushing to license her work and making the first Peter Rabbit doll.
Beatrix Potter
Stein was twentieth century American writer and influence in the Paris art world. She often wrote in an experimental style and is responsible for the quote “a rose is a rose is a rose.” Stein was in a lifelong lesbian relationship with her partner, Alice Toklas.
Gertrude Stein
Her name may be synonymous with etiquette, but Emily Post was not just a traditional woman. She began writing travel- and etiquette-guides as a newly-divorced single mother. More than which fork to use when, her etiquette was concerned with politeness and consideration for others’ feelings.
Emily Post
She was a beloved and prolific American children’s book author and illustrator. She had a unique art style and traveled the world for inspiration for her books. Cooney won multiple Caldecott Medals for her work, which she continued up until her death at 83 in 2000.
Barbara Cooney
She was a popular British poet of the Victorian era. Elizabeth suffered from poor health her entire life and only lived to 55, but during that time she became a celebrated poet whose work influenced Poe and Dickinson.
Elizabeth Barret Browning
She was a famous African American writer who served as inspiration and role model to many. Morrison’s most popular work, Beloved, is based on a story of an enslaved Black woman, Margaret Garner. She became the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Toni Morrison
She was a slave in Boston who became the first African American woman to publish a book of poems. Phyllis’ poetry was popular in her time, particularly among abolitionists. Although she was freed from slavery, life for Free Blacks was difficult and she struggled with poverty for the remainder of her life,
Phyllis Wheatley
An abolitionist, she published her best-selling book Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The book portrays the conditions faced by Black slaves in the American South, aiming to educate Northerners. Stowe spent her entire life advocating for social improvements, such as the abolition of slavery and expansion of women’s rights.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
She was a New Englander and celebrated children’s book author and illustrator. During her life, she illustrated almost 100 books and won two Caldecott honors. Her most popular work Corgiville Fair (1971) is about the goat race at a local fair.
Tasha Tudor
She was the first African American female White House correspondent. She pushed politicians on civil rights in her journalism and worked on Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidential campaign. Even at her most successful, Dunnigan still often had to pawn her watch to afford to eat.
Alice Dunnigan