Some weeks ago, Jean at Jean’s Thoughts wrote a blog post about the 100 women writers she needed to read in her lifetime (please check it out, if you haven’t yet). Her idea came from the realisation that the vast number of lists out there about the authors everyone should read before they die are predominantly comprised of male authors.
Keeping that in mind, I quickly glanced through my shelves and had to face the sad reality that I haven’t read that many books by female authors. In fact, if I had to quickly mention more than twenty female authors that I have read or want to read, I would struggle. The problem is even greater when thinking specifically about Portuguese female authors, whom I should be more familiar with. Not having studied many female authors while at school may be part of the problem. Even after doing some research, female authors seem to be almost non-existent in Portugal before the 20th century.
Having Jean’s list as a starting point, I decided to curate my own list of 100 women writers as a further incentive to read more books by female authors. The list features authors that I have already read and recommend, that I have been wanting to read for a long time, or that I have just discovered. Whenever I finish a book by one of the yet unread authors, I will tick off the name, as I did with the unfortunately few authors I have already read (although I have read more than one book by some of those writers).
- A.L. Kennedy
- Agatha Christie
- Agustina Bessa-Luís
- Ali Smith ✓
- Alice Vieira ✓
- Alice Walker
- Angela Carter
- Anne Brontë
- Anne Tyler
- Arundhati Roy ✓
- Azar Nafisi
- Becky Chambers
- Betty Smith
- Carmen Laforet
- Carol Ann Duffy
- Carys Bray
- Charlotte Brontë ✓
- Charlotte Perkins Gilmen
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Christina Rossetti
- Cynthia Bond
- Daphne du Maurier ✓
- Donna Tartt
- Edith Wharton
- Eleanor Catton
- Elena Ferrante
- Elizabeth Gaskell
- Ellen Feldman
- Emily Brontë
- Emily St. John Mandel ✓
- Emma Donoghue
- Essie Fox
- Florbela Espanca ✓
- Frances Burney
- George Eliot
- Han Kang
- Hannah Kent
- Hannah Rothschild
- Harper Lee
- Helen Oyeyemi
- Hélia Correia
- Hilary Mantel
- Isabell Allende ✓
- J.K. Rowling ✓
- Jackie Kay
- Jacqueline Susann
- Jane Austen ✓
- Janet Ellis ✓
- Jean Rhys
- Jeanette Winterson
- Jessie Burton ✓
- Jhumpa Lahiri
- Joanna Russ
- Karen Russel
- Kate Atkinson ✓
- Kate Chopin
- Lídia Jorge
- Lionel Shriver
- Liz Lochhead
- Louisa May Alcott
- Louise O’Neill
- Madeleine L’Engle
- Malorie Blackman
- Margaret Atwood ✓
- Margaret Cavendish
- Maria Isabel Barreno
- Maria Velho da Costa
- Marie Brennan ✓
- Marilynne Robinson
- Mary Shelley ✓
- Mary Wollstonecraft
- Maxine Hong Kingston
- Monica Ali
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Muriel Spark
- Naomi Mitchison
- Naomi Wolf
- Nnedi Okorafor
- Octavia E. Butler
- Pat Barker
- Penelope Fitzgerald
- Robin Hobb
- Ruth Ozeki
- Sappho
- Sara Taylor
- Sarah Moss
- Shirley Jackson
- Simone de Beauvoir
- Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen ✓
- Stella Gibbons
- Susan Sontag
- Susanna Clarke ✓
- Sylvia Plath
- Toni Morrison
- Tracy Chevalier
- Ursula K. Le Guin
- Virginia Woolf ✓
- Vita Sackville-West
- Willa Cather
- Zadie Smith
Update: I’m no longer ticking off the names on this post. If you’re interested in knowing how many of the above female authors I have read at least one book by so far, please check the new 100 Women Writers to Read in My Lifetime page in the Reading Projects section.
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