March is Women’s History Month and it’s important to remember all the important women who made significant contributions to literature. Some of the greatest writing has been through the work of women and in this article I’m going to be highlighting some that you can add to your reading list with a focus on classics.
Jane Austen, a British writer who wrote books such as Pride and Prejudice (1813), Sense and Sensibility (1811), and Emma (1815), some of the classics’ best examples of womanhood and my favorite authors. During her time, Austen mostly published anonymously, so her fame came after her death. Austen’s books created commentary on the British social classes as well as the struggles of being a woman in the early 1800s.
Arguably the most famous Gothic Fiction writer, Mary Shelley is the author of Frankenstein (1818) which created a classic in horror. She created a unique story and has been given the title “Mother of Science Fiction.” Frankenstein also commented on how criminals are not born, but instead made. Overall, the work of Mary Shelley had a significant effect on the science fiction genre and her work is still studied in schools today.
Sisters Emily and Charlotte Bronte were Victorian-era writers. Emily Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights (1847), and Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre (1847). Together with their sister Anne Bronte, they wrote Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846). The sisters received a proper education, and their success in writing created a push for equal education in Britain.
Louisa May Alcott is an American writer and poet best known for her novel Little Women (1868). One of the best novels expressing the experience of girlhood and a coming-of-age story. Before her breakthrough success in Little Women, Alcott wrote under a fake name due to the stigma around female writers.
Octavia E. Butler addressed themes of race, global warming, and women’s rights. Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998) were award-winning for their subject matter and are studied in higher education. A more recent example of a phenomenal female writer.
