By Nava Atlas | On November 29, 2020 | Updated November 14, 2021 | Comments (0)
Helen Hunt Jackson (born Helen Maria Fiske, October 15, 1830 – August 12, 1885), was an American novelist, poet, and writer of nonfiction. She gained fame as an advocate of Native Americans, using her pen and her voice to expose their disgraceful treatment by the U.S. government.
Her best-known novel, Ramona (1884), called attention to the mistreatment of Native Americans, much as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1882) raised awareness of the evils of slavery.
Though Ramona is no longer as widely known as the latter, it was hugely successful in its time, going through hundreds of editions. And though the intent behind both Ramona and Uncle Tom’s Cabin could smack of white saviorism, they were the most widely read “moral novels” of the 19th century. The two authors fervently believed in the causes that propelled their writings. Read More→
By Skyler Gomez | On November 9, 2020 | Updated March 23, 2025 | Comments (0)
Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda y Arteaga (March 23, 1814 – February 1, 1873), a Cuban-born Spanish writer, was considered one of the most romantic writers and greatest women poets of the 19th century.
Avellaneda was born in Santa Maria de Puerto Principe, currently known as Camagüey. Upon arriving in Cuba in 1905, her father, Manuel Gómez de Avellaneda y Gil de Taboada was a Spanish naval officer in charge of the port of Nuevitas.
Her mother, Francisca María del Rosario de Arteaga y Betancourt, was a criolla and a member of the wealthy Arteaga y Betancourt family, one of the most high-ranking families in Puerto Principe. Gertrudis was the first-born of the couple’s five children, but only she and her younger brother, Manuel, survived past childhood.
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By Skyler Gomez | On November 4, 2020 | Updated January 3, 2023 | Comments (4)
Eileen Chang, also known as Chang Ai-ling or Zhang Ailing (September 30, 1920 – September 8, 1995), was a Chinese essayist, novelist, and screenwriter.
Although Chang’s somber love stories are widely recognized, her construction of an alternative wartime narrative is considered a significant contribution to Chinese literature.
Chang was born in Zhang Ying, Shanghai, China to a well-known family; her grandfather was a son-in-law to Qing court official Li Hongzhang. In 1922 when Chang was two, her family relocated to Tianjin. Her father introduced her to Tang poetry at the age of three. Her mother also introduced her to painting, piano, and English in her early years.
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By Marcie McCauley | On September 29, 2020 | Updated June 13, 2026 | Comments (2)
Rachel Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was a noted American marine biologist, conservationist, and writer whose holistic view of the natural world shaped today’s environmental science.
Her eloquent nonfiction works educated readers about how every entity interacts with the broader web of life. (photo at right courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
This interconnectedness influenced her research into the indiscriminate use of chemical insecticides and the resulting book, Silent Spring (1962), her best known, raised questions and awareness that contributed to the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Read More→
By Taylor Jasmine | On August 31, 2020 | Updated January 9, 2025 | Comments (0)
Angelina Weld Grimké (February 27, 1880 – June 10, 1958) was an American playwright, poet, and educator. She rose to prominence as a figure in the Harlem Renaissance movement of the 1920s, though most of her major works were created before that era.
As a writer and woman of color, she was deeply concerned about pervasive racism and other issues of African American lif . Themes of racial bias and danger played a prominent role in her poetry and plays. Read More→
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