Summary
Praise for the previous edition:
"The clear readability and easy arrangement combine to make this title useful as an introduction to the topic for students."—American Reference Books Annual
"...engaging...a useful title."—Booklist
"The entries are informative and written in a lively, engaging style...a pleasure to read as well as an invaluable resource...highly readable and accessible...a priority choice for high school libraries. Highly Recommended."—Library Media Connection
Through poetry, essays, biographies, and editing, American women have had a long and significant impact on the art of writing. Millions of American women have told their own stories or the stories of others, or they’ve used writing as a way to create another world. American Women Writers, Third Edition profiles more than 190 such women, among them poets, essayists, journalists, editors, novelists, memoirists, and numerous other types of writers. This engaging resource examines the stories of women from a wide array of cultures and generations who share a love of writing. These women are also united by the unique challenges facing women writers—some having to opt for masculine pen names in order to be published.
This eBook updates the story of each individual to the present day and includes new profiles as well. It is enhanced with photographs that depict the women profiled. An updated bibliography provides listings of books and websites about women writers in general as well as specific resources about subcultures of female writers.
Profiles include:
- Judy Blume, author of young adult and children's books
- Erma Bombeck, humorist whose column "At Wit's End" explored domestic life
- Amy Clampitt, poet and MacArthur Fellowship recipient
- Patricia Cornwell, mystery writer who draws on her experience as a medical examiner for inspiration
- Barbara Ehrenreich, whose work explores social and economic issues in the United States
- Katherine Graham, former publisher of the Washington Post
- Jhumpa Lahiri, whose debut book of short stories won the Pulitzer Prize
- Nella Larson, novelist and winner of a Guggenheim fellowship
- Bobbie Ann Mason, author and literary critic
- Annie Proulx, who describes isolated locales in such places as Canada, New England, and Wyoming
- Sonia Sanchez, poet and playwright whose work promotes social and racial justice
- Esmeralda Santiago, memoirist who writes of her childhood in Puerto Rico and New York City
- Elizabeth Strout, novelist, short story writer, and Pulitzer Prize winner.
About the Author(s)
Carol Kort holds a B.A. in comparative literature from New York University and has also studied at Washington University and the Sorbonne in Paris. She is a freelance writer whose articles have appeared in the New York Times, New York Times Education Life magazine, Boston Globe Magazine, Boston Herald magazine, and national magazines such as Working Mother and Vegetarian Times. She has also written two weekly columns for the Boston Herald and a book of profiles for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. For Facts On File, she is also the coauthor of American Women in the Visual Arts, Second Edition.