By Nava Atlas | On March 4, 2018 | Updated August 25, 2022 | Comments (0)
Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American author, poet, and art collector. She’s considered one of the most significant modernist writers of the early twentieth century.
Though some consider her writing incoherent or absurd, others view it as a singular voice from the era of literary modernism.
Born into a well-to-do family Jewish family in Pennsylvania, Stein went to college at Radcliffe and then studied medicine for four years at Johns Hopkins University. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On March 3, 2018 | Updated August 1, 2026 | Comments (2)
L.M. Montgomery (November 30, 1874 – April 24, 1942), born on Prince Edward Island, Canada, was a novelist and short story writer best known for the Anne of Green Gables series. Her full name was Lucy Maud Montgomery.
When she was not yet two years old her mother died of tuberculosis, and her father left her to be raised by her grandparents. Strict Presbyterians who ran the Cavendish post office, they provided a stable home for restless, imaginative Maud.
Maud started writing on scraps of paper when she was just a girl, and would eventually draw upon the beautiful Prince Edward Island habitat for the adventures of Anne Shirley. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On March 1, 2018 | Updated September 6, 2026 | Comments (0)
Sarah Orne Jewett (September 3, 1849 – June 24, 1909) was American author whose works embodied her love for the natural surroundings of her native South Berwick, Maine.
The coastal community served as the fictionalized setting for most of her novels and short stories.
The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896) is considered Jewett’s masterpiece, and as a whole, her work is credited for helping to popularize the genre of regionalism in fiction. Her work also displays a deep compassion for women, respecting their hopes and ambitions in an era that wasn’t always conducive to their realization. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On March 1, 2018 | Updated July 4, 2026 | Comments (0)
Jessie Redmon Fauset (April 27, 1882 – April 30, 1961) was an American editor, poet, essayist, and novelist who was deeply involved with the Harlem Renaissance literary movement.
Jessie Fauset was known as one of the “midwives” of the movement, as someone who encouraged and supported other talents. She was especially noted for her work as an editor of The Crisis, NAACP’s journal, in the Harlem Renaissance era. In that capacity, she discovered and nurtured several major Black literary figures.
She also wrote four well-regarded novels and numerous short stories and essays; she was an accomplished poet as well.
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By Nava Atlas | On March 1, 2018 | Updated March 5, 2026 | Comments (0)
Gwendolyn Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was a highly awarded American poet whose works included sonnets and ballads as well as blues rhythm in free verse. She also created lyrical poems, some of which were book-length.
Arguably her most famous poem is the brief, much-anthologized “We Real Cool,” but it would be sad to stop with this brief but memorable poem — her career as a working poet was rich and varied.
Though her work reflected urban Black life, its underlying themes were universal to the human experience. Gwendolyn Brooks’ lifetime output encompassed more than twenty books, including children’s books. Read More→
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