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Professional writing has traditionally been a male occupation, but despite restrictions exceptional women produced important and influential poetry, stories, novels, and plays. From ancient Sumerian priestess Enheduanna's poetic praises for her patron goddess, Inanna, to 19th-century English novelist Jane Austen's witty romances that quietly challenged social convention, and from Beatrix Potter's ... More

Professional writing has traditionally been a male occupation, but despite restrictions exceptional women produced important and influential poetry, stories, novels, and plays. From ancient Sumerian priestess Enheduanna's poetic praises for her patron goddess, Inanna, to 19th-century English novelist Jane Austen's witty romances that quietly challenged social convention, and from Beatrix Potter's whimsical and timelessly popular animal tales to Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston's vivid and powerful portrayals of the African-American experience, the written word has been an effective way for women to express their own perspective on such universal themes as love, relationships, faith, death, and the meaning of life. This illustrated collection of biographies reaches across the boundaries of place, time, race, and social status to bring together the diverse, encouraging stories behind 18 extraordinary voices. Each female writer's life and work are surveyed in-depth, from her childhood perceptions and early interest in writing through the personal and social challenges she faced as a woman struggling for literary success. Accompanying the text, author and illustrator Rebecca Hazell has created expressive watercolour and gouache portraits inspired by the artistic style of the historical period in which each writer lived. Enhanced by a bibliography for further reading and research, this text should be an ideal classroom reference, as well as the perfect inspirational gift book for any budding writer. The writers profiled are: Jane Austen; Elizabeth Bishop; Charlotte Bronte; Agatha Christie; Anita Desai; Isak Dineson; Enheduanna; Lillian Hellman; Zora Neale Hurston; Ursula K. Le Guin; Gabriela Mistral; Toni Morrison; Lady Murasaki Shikibu; Beatrix Potter; George Sand; Edith Jones Wharton; Laura Ingalls Wilder; and Zitkala-Sa.

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