By Tim Lambert
Women Writers in the Ancient World
Enheduanna 2295-2250 BC was a priestess and writer in what is now Iraq
Sappho c 600 BC was a Greek woman poet
Telesilla of Argos c 500 BC was a renowned poet
Anyte of Tegea c 250 BC was a famous poet
Julia Balbilla c 130 AD was a Roman poet
Women Writers in the Middle Ages
Shangguan Wan’er (664-710) was a famous Chinese woman poet
Xue Tao (768-831) was another great Chinese poet
Yu Xuanji (c 844-1868) was also a famous Chinese poet
Hrotsvitha von Gandersheim (930-1002) was a dramatist and poet
Sei Shonagon (966-c 1025) was a famous Japanese poet. She is famous for Pillow Book.
Murasaki Shikibu (c 973-1014 AD) was a famous Japanese writer. She is famous for her work The Tale of Genji.
Frau Ava (1060-1127) was a German writer
Hildegard (1088-1179) was a theologian and writer. She also wrote about medicine. And she wrote music and a play.
Li Qingzhao (1084-1155) was a great Chinese woman poet
Heloise (1101-1164) was a French Abbess and she was widely respected for her learning
Marie de France (1160-1215) was a famous French poet. Little is known about her life but she was highly regarded.
Mechtild von Magdeburg (c 1207-1282) was a famous mystic
Julian of Norwich (1342-1416) Despite her masculine name Julian was a woman. She was a famous mystic and writer. Julian wrote about the ‘motherhood’ of God.
Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) was an Italian author
Leonor Lopez de Cordoba (c 1362-1430) was a Spanish author
Christine de Pisan (1364-1432) was another famous writer of the Middle Ages
Margery Kempe (1373-c. 1439) was an English mystic. The story of her life became a famous book The Book of Margery Kempe.
Women Writers in the 16th century
Beatriz Galindo (c 1465-1523) was a great scholar and writer
Vittoria Colonna (1490-1549) was a poet
Katharine Zell (1497-1562) was a German Protestant writer
Tullia d’Aragona (1510-1556) was a poet
Catherine Parr (1512-1548) As well as being the wife of Henry VIII she was a noted writer
Lousie Labe (1524-1566) was a poet
Olympia Morata (1526-1555) was an important humanist scholar
Veronica Franco (1546-1591) was a famous poet
Isabella Andreini (1562-1604) was an actress and writer
Marie Le Jars de Gournay (1565-1645) was a famous French writer
Women Writers in the 17th Century
Elizabeth Jane Weston (1582-1612) was a famous English poet
Arangela Tarbotti 1604-1652 was a famous writer who vigorously attacked the condition of women in the 17th century.
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) was another famous poet
Marie de Sevigne (1626-1696) was a famous French write
Katherine Philips (1632-1664) was another famous poet
Aphra Behn (1640-1689) was a famous writer of the 17th century
Women in the 18th Century
Mary Collier (c.1690-1762) was a washerwoman. Despite her humble background, she became a well-known writer and poet.
Hannah More (1745-1833) was a famous writer
Olympe de Gouges (1748-1793) was a famous playwright
Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) was a poet
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) is famous for her book A Vindication of the Rights of Women
Madame Anne de Stael (1766-1817) was a famous writer
Women Writers in the 19th Century
Jane Austen (1775-1817) was a famous English writer
Frances Trollope (1779-1863) is most famous for her book Domestic Manners of the Americans
Mary Shelley (1797-1851) is famous for her novel Frankenstein
Comtesse de Segur (1799-1874) was born in Russia but became a famous novelist while living in France
George Sand (Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dudevant) (1804-1876) was a French novelist
Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) is another famous writer
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) is famous for Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) was a famous English writer
Emily Bronte (1818-1848) is famous for her book Wuthering Heights
Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot) (1819-1880) was also a famous writer
Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823-1901) was a novelist
Christina Rosetti (1830-1894) was an English poet
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was a poet
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) is famous for her book Little Women
Sarah Jeanette Duncan (1861-1922) was a Canadian author and journalist
Women Writers in the 20th Century
E. Pauline Johnson (1861-1913) was a famous Canadian poet in the early years of the 20th century
Edith Wharton (1862-1937) Edith was an American writer in the early 20th century
Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) is famous for her children’s stories
Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) is famous for the Little House on the Prairie books
Charlotte Mew (1869-1928) was also a famous poet
Willa Cather (1873-1947) was a novelist of the early 20th century
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was a novelist
Karen Blixen (1885-1962)
She was a Danish author
Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966)
Anna was a famous poet
She was a crime novelist
Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)
She was a famous author of the mid-20th century
Pearl Buck (1892-1973)
Pearl was a novelist. Her novel The Good Earth won the Pulitzer prize in 1932.
Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941)
Marina was a poet
She wrote children’s books
Laura Riding (1901-1991)
She was a famous poet
Louise de Vilmorin (1902-1969)
Louise was a novelist and poet
Anais Nin (1903-1977)
Anais was a French writer
Marguerite Yourcenar (1903-1987)
Marguerite was a novelist
Phyllis McGinley 1905-1978
Phyllis was a poet
Ayn Rand (1905-1982)
She was a famous novelist
Daphne du Maurier (1907-1989)
Daphne was a famous novelist
Eudora Welty (1909-2001)
Eudora was a writer from Mississippi
Andre Norton (1912-2005)
She was a science fiction writer
Marguerite Duras (1914-1996)
She was a writer and filmmaker
Zoe Oldenbourg (1916-2002)
Zoe was a novelist
Zenna Henderson (1917-1983)
She was a science fiction writer
Doris Lessing (1919-2013)
She was a famous novelist
Judith Merril (1923-1997)
She was a science fiction writer
Joan Aiken (1924-2004)
She was an author
Harper Lee (1926-2016)
She is famous for her book To Kill a Mockingbird
Maya Angelou (1928-2014)
She was a poet
Ursula K. LeGuin (1929-2018)
She is famous for fantasy fiction
Alice Munro (1931-)
Alice is a Canadian writer of short stories
Toni Morrison (1931-2019)
She was a novelist
Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)
Sylvia was a novelist and poet
Francoise Sagan (1935-2009)
She was a playwright
Annie Ernaux (1940-)
Annie is a French writer
Octavia Butler (1947-2006)
She was a science fiction writer
Vonda McIntyre (1948-2019)
She was a science fiction writer
Amy Tan (1952-)
Amy is a novelist
Sandra Cisneros (1954-) is a poet and short story writer
J K Rowling (1965-) is a very successful writer
Women Writers in the 21st Century
Zadie Smith (1975-) is a modern novelist
Last revised 2024