Women Writers: 20th Century

A profile of folklorist Francesca Alexander, who published Tuscan folk songs.

Biography and list of Net and print resources about and by Isabel Allende, Chile-born writer and educator who has worked and lived in the United States.

Information on Sylvia Woodbridge Beach, owner of the Shakespeare & Co. bookshop in Paris, 1919-1941, and publisher of James Joyce's Ulysses.

Quotes by Rita Mae Brown - part of an extensive collection of quotations by notable women.

A profile of Maeve Binchy, Irish writer

Biography and Net resources for the pioneer environmentalist, Rachel Carson, and her books including Silent Spring.

Novelist of the early 20th century, her novels of the west are still well-read today.

Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn was a 20th century woman poet from Vermont whose poems often highlighted social injustices.

Alice Dunbar-Nelson -- who also wrote as Alice Ruth Moore, Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson, and Alice Dunbar Nelson -- was an African American woman writer at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Her life and writing provide insight into the culture in which she lived. Here are some recommended books by or about Alice Dunbar-Nelson.

A profile of Alice Morse Earle, whose writings on colonial life and the Puritans focus on domestic life and foreshadow the discipline of women's history.

Quotes by Zelda Fitzgerald, author who was married to F. Scott Fitzgerald and whose works were little appreciated until well after her death.

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, pioneer in women's history and women's studies, moved in her career from leftist to conservative.

Quotes by Susan Glaspell, experimental playwright of the early 20th century.

Doris Kearns Godwin biography - profile of writer Doris Kearns Goodwin, biographer of the Kennedys, Roosevelts, Lyndon Johnson, and Abraham Lincoln.

From the roots to the blossoming to the neglect to the rediscovery of this important literary movement.

A biography of Lillian Hellman, woman writer and playwright whose plays often included anti-fascist themes.

A profile of Fannie Hurst, writer, part of a collection of profiles on notable women in history.

Anthropologist and folklorist, this Harlem Renaissance writer died virtually forgotten. Fortunately, Alice Walker has brought her back to public attention.

Quotes from the film critic Pauline Kael, known for her self-assured and strong opinions on both good and bad movies.

Wendy Kaminer, a writer and social critic who is also an egalitarian feminist, has written on a wide variety of subjects. Here are some of her more readable books on American culture and politics.

Who was the real author of the Nancy Drew books? A relative of the creators weighs in with her argument.

A biography of Caroline Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg, daughter of Jackie and John Kennedy, and herself a writer and lawyer.

A biographical sketch of Muna Lee, author, feminist, and Pan-Americanist.

Doris Lessing profile, with the basics of the life and career of Doris Lessing, British woman writer.

The Golden Notebook influenced many feminists in the 1960s. See how Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook reflected and contributed to feminism.

Amy Lowell biography, bibliography, and selected links to more information.

Poetry by women: index for Amy Lowell - part of a larger collection of poetry written by women, much of it before the twentieth century. Gives insight into the lives and expectations of women in history.

Edna St. Vincent Millay was a popular poet of the first half of the 20th century. Read the basic facts and a biography of the poet known for her Bohemian lifestyle.

Quotes by Edna St. Vincent Millay - part of an extensive collection of quotations by notable women.

Biography of Toni Morrison, Nobel winning writer and explorer of human experience through the experiences of black women.

About Sarojini Naidu, Indian poet and political activist, a key part of Gandhi's independence movement.

Mary Oliver, poet of the 20th and early 21st century, often used nature themes to explore the inner personality.

Quotes by Dorothy Parker - part of an extensive collection of quotations by notable women.

Quotes by Marge Piercy - part of an extensive collection of quotations by notable women.

Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time explores what a post-gender future might bring. Read about the classic feminist novel Woman on the Edge of Time.

A biography of Rand, with links to more information on the Net. From Jone Lewis, About.com Guide to Women's History.

Read about Adrienne Rich, an internationally recognized, award-winning poet and essayist as well as feminist activist.

Adrienne Rich's feminist classic looks at motherhood, pregnancy and childbirth, epitomizing the "personal is political" approach.

Poet and essayist Adrienne Rich is depicted here in a 1991 photograph.

Nelly Sachs, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1966, was a German Jew who took refuge in Sweden in 1940 and wrote of the Holocaust and Jewish experience.

Anita Shreve chat, January 26, 2000, 7 pm EST

Quotes by Dorothy Thompson - part of an extensive collection of quotations by notable women.

Probably best known for her novel The Color Purple, Walker is also an unabashed activist for causes she believes in.

A major poet, but often thought to be a bad one, she catered to popular tastes. One poem, represented here among many others, was a conversation between the old century and the new -- the 19th and the 20th. Another is an answer to a male critic who said "Woman is man's enemy, rival and competitor."

Quotes by Virginia Woolf - part of an extensive collection of quotations by notable women.

The history of the series of books which has fascinated several generations of young female readers.

A suggested book list for reading groups on women's history, focused on women writers on the art of writing.

Atwood's novel, Alias Grace, satirizes Victorian life from a servant's point of view, illustrating the class tensions of that era in a creative form.  This is an interview with the author.

Gale biography of Julia de Burgos, 20th century poet and Puerto Rican nationalist.

Gale biography of an American poet and writer. Among her books is The House on Mango Street.

Basic information on Cortez, a jazz-inspired poet.

Virginian poet Rita Dove's poem to freedom, with images, mpegs, audio and text.

Etext of the 1920 translation includes color illustrations and Amy Lowell's introduction. An excellent history of women's writing in Japan.

Poem by Christina Rossetti. An excerpt was used by Willa Cather as a metaphor for women's writing.

The author of Like Water for Chocolate and The Law of Love in a Salon Magazine interview talks of love, tradition, destiny in her writing.

1991 Nobel Prize for Literature winner Gordimer talks of her country's racial history and current racial climate.

Feminist and author from New Zealand. She's written on women's intellectual history.

The author of three novels (as of 1995) talks of her novels highlighting Chinese and Chinese-American culture, and her status as an Asian-American writer.

A history of literature in Texas, highlighting the contributions of women both in culture and as writers.

Article on inventing identities in Virginia Woolf and other women writers, by Zelia Gregoriou.

Quotes by Ntozake Shange - part of an extensive collection of quotations by notable women.