By Nava Atlas | On May 2, 2018 | Updated August 30, 2023 | Comments (0)
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→
By Nava Atlas | On April 26, 2018 | Updated March 25, 2024 | Comments (0)
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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By Aiyana Edmund | On April 21, 2018 | Updated August 22, 2026 | Comments (0)
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (August 8, 1896 – December 14, 1953) was an American novelist and memoirist best known for The Yearling (1938), the story of a boy who adopts an orphaned fawn, and the hard choices that ensue.
The Yearling won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1939 and was made into a successful movie in 1946.
Rawlings is also known for her writings about her adopted home in Cross Creek, Florida, where she bought an orange grove in the late 1920s and lived for many decades. Read More→
By Aiyana Edmund | On April 19, 2018 | Updated August 25, 2022 | Comments (0)
P.L. Travers (August 9, 1899 – April 23, 1996), full name Pamela Lyndon Travers, was an Australian-born author best remembered as the author of the Mary Poppins series of books.
She had a vivid imagination from childhood on, and was inspired by her love of reading, favoring fairy tales and myths.
Mary Poppins, one of the best-loved characters in children’s literature, came from a little story she made up while babysitting two young children. It first became a book, then a series, and the basis of the renowned 1964 Disney musical film, which greatly displeased the author. Travers wrote other children’s books as well as books for adults focused on mythology. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On April 10, 2018 | Updated January 7, 2025 | Comments (0)
Helene Johnson (July 7, 1906 – July 6, 1995) was an American poet active in the Harlem Renaissance movement. She grew up surrounded by her mother and aunts, strong women who inspired her distinctive poetic voice.
Born in Boston and raised by her single mother in Brookline and Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, Helene considered herself painfully shy as a child. She found her voice when she turned to writing poetry.
Helene was the cousin of Dorothy West, who would become a respected short story writer and novelist. In the mid-1920s, the two young women, drawn to the energy of Harlem, moved to New York City. Helene took classes at Columbia University, where she met and befriended Zora Neale Hurston., then an ethnology student and budding writer. Read More→
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