Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American poet long regarded as a major twentieth-century figure in the genre.
Wildly popular in her lifetime, she fell out of favor after her death, but is now being reconsidered — read, studied, and growing (or re-growing) in regard in the field of poetry.
Her middle name really was an homage to the New York City’s St. Vincent’s hospital, where the life of an uncle was saved before she was born. After her parents were divorced, there was minimal contact with their father. Her mother, Cora, was frequently away from home, on the road as a visiting nurse. Read More→
Miles Franklin (October 14, 1879 – September 19, 1954) was an Australian author of novels and nonfiction, born Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin.
Her best-known novel, My Brilliant Career, is the story of a teenage girl growing up in the Australian bush who longs to break free as her own person. Franklin wrote it while still in her teens and was just twenty-one when it was published in 1901.
Franklin’s literary career was long but uneven, alternating great gaps with almost feverish output. A need to support herself compelled her to work in a number of odd jobs, though she often made use of her experiences in her storytelling. Read More→
Kate Chopin (February 8, 1850 – August 22, 1904) was an American author who made her mark writing fiction that was regional in character, yet universal in nature.
Chopin’s best known work is The Awakening, an 1899 novella that was controversial from the time it was published in 1899. The reception of The Awakening, which was negative overall, along with the shockwaves it produced discouraged Chopin. Her output slowed considerably in its aftermath, and its erasure was hastened by her premature death just five years after its publication.
Chopin earned her due only decades after her death when her body of work was resurrected and reconsidered. The Awakening now considered an American classic and a staple in feminist literature. Her other works of fiction, which skewed to short stories, are held in similar high esteem. Read More→
Elizabeth Gaskell (née Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson, September 29, 1810 – November 12, 1865) was a British author known for short stories and novels focusing on social classes.
In literary circles and beyond, she was often referred to simply as “Mrs. Gaskell.”
The upheaval of class boundaries, the industrialization of England, religion, and women’s issues in the Victorian era were all themes of her work. Elizabeth’s mother died a year or so after giving birth to her. Her father, a Unitarian minister, wasn’t able to care for her, so she was sent to live with an aunt. Read More→
“Sweet Lorraine” is a (platonic) love letter and tribute to Lorraine Hansberry by her friend and colleague, James Baldwin. It opens her posthumous book of collected writings, To Be Young, Gifted and Black (1969). Both were relatively young artists when they first met in the winter of 1958.
Lorraine, then 28, came to the Actors’ Studio where the stage version of Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room was being workshopped. He was then 34. Both were aware of one another’s work, and Lorraine would soon go on to defend her new friend Jimmy’s charge to introduce theater audiences to Black and queer themes. Read More→
Anna Sewell (March 30, 1820 – April 25, 1878) was a British novelist who had only one published book — Black Beauty — to her name.
But what a book it is — a timeless classic that has enthralled generations of readers with its message of compassion toward animals.
Anna was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk in England, into a family that was devoutly Quaker. Her mother, Mary Wright Sewell (who outlived her daughter by a few years) was herself an author of poetry and children’s books. Read More→
The Song of the Lark is a 1915 novel by Willa Cather, telling the story of Thea Kronborg and her desire to be a world-class singer. Born into the family of a Swedish Methodist minister in a Colorado village, she has a voice, an ambition, and a native sense of the true and fine — qualities all in contrast with the cheapness and tawdriness she perceives around her.
From her girlhood, when her ambition takes hold, to her triumph as a prima donna at thirty, Thea’s whole life is focused around her supreme desire for artistic perfection. Willa Cather had already outlined this novel, having had an interest in opera.
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Aphra Behn (December 14, 1640 –April 16, 1689) was a playwright, poet, and novelist known for being the first British woman to earn her living by her writing.
Born in Wye, Kent, England, as a child she was taken to Suriname (presumably by her parents), which at the time was an English possession.
While there, Aphra discovered the legend of the African prince Oroonoko and his beloved Imoinda. This later inspired what became her best-known novel, Oroonoko. She also has the distinction of being the first British woman to earn her living by her writing.
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