By Nava Atlas | On February 6, 2019 | Updated June 26, 2026 | Comments (0)
Shirley Jackson (December 14, 1916 – August 8, 1965) was an American author of fiction and nonfiction whose works influenced a generation of writers in the psychological terror genre who came after her.
She was recognized for wryly humorous accounts of family life, and more significantly, sharply told stories and novels of psychological terror. Her stories and novels have disturbed and fascinated readers and critics with their clever unveiling of the dark side of human nature.
While Jackson is arguably best remembered for “The Lottery,” the widely anthologized, controversial 1948 short story that put her on the literary map, she produced an array of notable novels, memoirs, and scores of other short stories as well.
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By Nava Atlas | On January 22, 2019 | Updated August 26, 2026 | Comments (2)
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (September 24, 1825 – February 22, 1911), also known as Frances Watkins Harper and Frances E.W. Harper, combined her talents as a writer, poet, and public speaker with a deep commitment to abolition and social reform.
She sustained a long and prolific publishing career at a time when it was rare for women, particularly women of color, to have a voice. She used that voice in powerful ways, and as a result, she has been referred to as “the mother of African American journalism.”
Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects (1854), her first collection, was possibly her most successful, having gone through many editions. “The Two Offers” was the first published short story by a BlackAmerican woman. And Iola Leroy (1892) was one of the first novels by a Black woman to be published in the U.S.
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By Nava Atlas | On December 25, 2018 | Updated September 15, 2026 | Comments (0)
Flannery O’Connor (March 25, 1925 – August 3, 1964) was born Mary Flannery O’Connor in Savannah, Georgia. She was best known for her short stories — morally driven narratives populated with flawed characters sometimes described as grotesque.
O’Connor was viewed as a bit different by her fellow townspeople in Milledgeville, Georgia. She stood apart from the itinerant farm workers and country folk, becoming something of an observer. There was nothing she ever wanted to do other than write.
You may notice that some of her book covers feature peacocks, which is a nod to the fact that she helped raise the beautiful birds on her family’s farm.
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By Nava Atlas | On December 16, 2018 | Updated May 1, 2025 | Comments (0)
Anaïs Nin (February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) embodied the practice of writing as a grand passion and a path to delving deeply into the self. In this sense, she foreshadowed the immediacy of today’s world of self-revelatory memoir. She was a splendid and prolific essayist as well.
Best known for her multi-volume series, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, she wrote these journals over the span of more than thirty years (not including her Early Diaries series).
Born in France, her full original name was Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell. Her father, Joaquin Nin, a composer, deserted the family when Anaïs was about 11 years old. He and her mother, Rosa Culmell y Vigaraud, were of Cuban descent with traces of French, Spanish, and Danish ancestry. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On December 12, 2018 | Updated August 25, 2022 | Comments (0)
Eudora Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American author whose work spanned several genres — novels, short stories, and memoir.
Much of her writing focused on realistic human relationships — conflict, community, interaction, and influence. As a Southern writer, a sense of place was an important theme running though her work.
She grew up in a close-knit, contented family in Jackson, Mississippi. Her parents instilled a love of education, curiosity, and reading to her and to her brothers, with whom she was close. Read More→
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