By Nava Atlas | On March 9, 2018 | Updated September 25, 2026 | Comments (6)
Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 – April 16, 1968) was an American novelist and playwright whose name perhaps less known today than other classic women authors of her time.
In her heyday, Ferber was considered one of the most successful writers of the time—primarily the 1920s through the early 50s, with earning power to prove it.
Due to the many film and stage adaptations of her sprawling sagas, including Giant, Showboat, Saratoga Trunk, and Cimarron, are better remembered than she is. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On March 8, 2018 | Updated September 6, 2026 | Comments (2)
Lorraine Hansberry (May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965) was an American playwright and author. Hansberry grew up in an environment that set the stage, so to speak, for her best-known work —A Raisin in the Sun, the first play by a Black woman to be staged on Broadway.
At the age of twenty-nine, she became the youngest American and the first Black playwright to win the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play.
Hansberry was also known for the plays The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window and Les Blancs. The posthumous play and published collection To Be Young, Gifted and Black encapsulated a brief and brilliant career. She was only 34 years old when she died of pancreatic cancer. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On March 6, 2018 | Updated December 6, 2022 | Comments (0)
Madeleine L’Engle (November 29, 1918 – September 6, 2007) was an American novelist and memoirist best known for her award-winning fantasy and science fiction series for young adults and children of all ages. She’s particularly well known for A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels.
L’Engle’s writing life that can be described as one of perseverance. She recorded in detail the long years of rejection of her work as “too dark and difficult for children.”
Hers is a story of triumph following years of silence and frustration. She persisted because she felt compelled to, though she often had little to show for her labors but rejection slips. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On March 5, 2018 | Updated July 24, 2026 | Comments (0)
Sylvia Plath (October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was a gifted writer of poetry and fiction whose life ended all too young by suicide. Triggered by the death of her father when she was eight years old, depression took root and led to a life of struggle.
She made no pretense about the degree of her pain in her writings. Plath’s poetry is considered part of the frank and revelatory “confessional movement.” (Photo at right courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
As a young woman, Plath seemed to have what it would take to succeed. She was attractive, smart, and talented. As a college student at Smith, she was well liked and showed immense academic promise. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On March 4, 2018 | Updated February 21, 2025 | Comments (1)
Katherine Anne Porter (May 15, 1890– September 18, 1980), was an American author and journalist best known for her short stories and her 1962 masterwork, Ship of Fools.
She spent her early years working as a teacher of drama, dance and song to help support her and her father. These misfortunes are what made Porter the amazing writer that she became, focusing on themes of death, mistrust, and depraved human behavior. Read More→
Categories: 
Comments: