Inspiring Female Authors

This week for Women’s History Month we will be talking about Inspiring Female Authors! Women who have defied their odds and became well known, successful authors. We hope you like our choices!

Bronte Sisters

Though the world now knows of the famous Brote sisters, their novels were originally published under men’s names. In their time, it was unusual for women to write novels or support themselves, but the sisters did both. Charlotte was once told by a male author, whom she sent her writing to, that “literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life, and it ought not to be.” The women knew the prejudices toward women authors at the time, and knew their works would be judged for being “unfeminine”. However, they wrote powerful feminist novels and eventually revealed themselves, shattering the belief that women writers were inferior to men. 

Agatha Christie

The fact that the world’s bestselling novelist is a woman is an inspiration, in and of itself. Women authors can also find inspiration in the struggles that Agatha Christie faced during her lifetime. Her father died when she was 11, her first husband left her for another woman, and she battled mental health issues. Agatha Christie was also a wartime nurse and drew inspiration for her novels from her work and travels. 

J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling was a poor single mom, who wrote parts of Harry Potter on bits of scrap paper and napkins. Her abusive husband literally used the novel to hold her hostage, locking up the manuscript because he knew she would not leave without it. Only after sneaking away a couple of pages at a time and copying them down until she recreated the entire story, did she get away from this relationship. Maybe this is why she never gave up on her story, even when Harry Potter was rejected 12 times by publishers. Rowling was living off of state benefits when she wrote the first Harry Potter book, and is now worth around a billion dollars, and is in-fact the world’s first billion dollar author. 

Mary Shelley

Author of one of the most iconic faces in Horror, and considered an early example of the Science Fiction genre; Frankenstein. Mary Shelley experienced a lot of heartache and tragedy in her life, but she always pushed herself to write, and even be an editor! It seemed writing was always there for her, and by embracing her talent she created an unforgettable masterpiece! Science Fiction is another of my favorite genres, and I believe without her stoking the fires, it would not be what it is today.

Louisa May Alcott

When she first began writing, Louisa May Alcott was told by a publisher “stick to your teaching, Miss Alcott. You can’t write.” This didn’t stop her, and she went on to write almost 300 literary works. She was an activist in many areas, and used her writing to that end. During the Civil War, she worked as a nurse at a Union hospital and her parents were station-masters on the underground railroad. She later wrote a memoir that illustrated the conditions of the military hospitals, allowing her readers to empathize with wounded soldiers. She was also a part of the women’s suffrage movement and would become the first women to register to vote in Concord, CT. Many of her writings advocated for women’s rights, and her main character in Little Women is based off her own feminist personality.

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What do you think? 

Do you agree with our list? Did we leave any authors out? Let us know in the comments below. We hope you have enjoyed this series of posts for Women’s History Month! You can check out our post on the Best Fantasy Heroines here. If you enjoy our blog feel free to buy us a cup of coffee, we promise to share!

Thanks so much for reading!

-Clever and WTF