Women who revolutionized literature

Maya Adimora, Beyond the Gates editor|March 1, 2022

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Did you know that the world’s first novel, The Tale of Genji, was written by a woman? She was a Japanese poet and lady-in-waiting named Murasaki Shikibu.

What better way is there to celebrate Women’s History Month than to recognize women authors and the books they have written? Join me as I give a quick rundown of famous women authors, new and old, throughout history.

First and foremost is Jane Austen, one of the most famous women authors. She was an English novelist who lived from December 16, 1775, to July 1817. Although Jane Austen defied the status quo by never using a male pen name, she did publish her books anonymously with the pen name “By a Lady.” Her relatable characters and themes in her novels allowed them to endure the test of time. Austen’s most popular novel of her six is Pride and Prejudice (1813).

If the names: Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë do not sound familiar to you, then maybe Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell will? They were the respective pen names of the Brontë Sisters, three of four sisters who wrote several books considered classics. You may recognize Charlotte’s Jane Eyre, Emily’s Wuthering Heights, and Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall from your English classes.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was an American poet who lived in Amherst, Massachusetts for her entire life. Her poems are classics because they drastically revolutionized 20th-century poetry in America. Dickinson’s most famous poem is Hope is the Thing with Feathers. However, my personal favorite is A Bird came down the Walk. What is yours?

Over time, women have dominated the publishing industry in the 20th and 21st centuries. While it is important to recognize past women who revolutionized literature, it is just as important to recognize today’s groundbreaking women writers. They use their novels to champion social change and make the public aware of important issues.

One such woman is Amanda Gorman, the first National Youth Poet Laureate. Yes, she is the Black poet who spoke at President Joe Biden’s Inauguration Ceremony and also the youngest American Poet Laureate. Her published poetry includes The Hill We Climb (her inaugural poem), Call Us What We Carry (a collection of poems), and Change Sins: A Children’s Anthem (picture book including poems). Gorman has used her platform to speak about oppression, race, feminism, and other topics.

Although Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give debuted #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List, its popularity skyrocketed because of the George Floyd Protests and the Black Lives Matter movement’s resurgence. Thomas has published three novels: The Hate U Give (2017), which got a movie adaptation in 2018; On the Come Up (2019); and Concrete Rose (2021). Her works center around Black issues, racism, police brutality, and social justice in the United States.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, born September 15, 1977, is an Ibo author from Enugu, Nigeria. Her short stories, essays, books, and plays center around race and feminism. Her works are Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), and Americanah (2013), The Things Around Your Neck (2009), We Should All Be Feminists (2014), Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (2017), Zikora (2020), and Notes on Grief (2021).