By Alex J. Coyne | On July 17, 2023 | Updated June 1, 2025 | Comments (0)
Ingrid Jonker (September 19, 1933 – July 19, 1965) was a South African poet and founder of the emerging counterculture literary movement. The daughter of a Member of Parliament for the National Party, her views and work strongly opposed the apartheid government of the time.
Jonker has been compared to some of the most iconic modern female artists and poets, including Sylvia Plath. Her poetry, written in Afrikaans, has been more recently translated into English, as well as German, Dutch, French, Polish, Hindi, and other languages.
Jonker’s poem, “The child who was shot dead by soldiers at Nyanga” was recited by Nelson Mandela on May 24, 1994, signifying the past impact and end of the Apartheid-regime. Read More→
By Elodie Barnes | On June 26, 2023 | Updated May 6, 2025 | Comments (0)
Penelope Fitzgerald (December 17, 1916 – April 28, 2000) was a novelist, essayist, and biographer widely regarded as one of the greatest British writers of her generation.
She began her career later in life — her first successful novel (The Bookshop, 1978) was published when she was sixty-one — and went on to win the Booker Prize in 1979. It was also adapted into a 2017 feature film starring Emily Mortimer and Bill Nighy.
Penelope Fitzgerald’s novels have been described as “strange and original masterpieces” by her biographer, Hermione Lee, and her final work, The Blue Flower, is widely regarded as one of the best historical novels ever written. Read More→
By Elodie Barnes | On May 16, 2023 | Updated March 15, 2025 | Comments (0)
Dame Muriel Spark (February 1, 1918 – April 13, 2006) was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet, and biographer.
Her novels were famous for their wit and style, and several have been adapted for film, television, and the stage. Her best-known work is the 1961 novel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Spark was quite prolific — in a nearly fifty-year career she wrote twenty-two novels, several collections of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. She has been recognized as one of the greatest British writers. Read More→
By Elodie Barnes | On April 17, 2023 | Updated March 15, 2025 | Comments (0)
Nan Shepherd (February 11, 1893 – February 27, 1981) was a Scottish modernist poet, writer, and mountaineer.
Best known for The Living Mountain, she published three novels, a collection of poems, several essays, articles, and letters.
Her deep love of the Scottish mountains and her knowledge of them through walking was fundamental to her writing and shaped most of her work. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On April 13, 2023 | Updated July 16, 2023 | Comments (0)
Amy Levy (November 10, 1861 – September 9, 1889) was a British essayist, novelist, and poet who, despite the gift of talent and early accomplishments, died by her own hand just shy of twenty-eight.
Her best-known work was Reuben Sachs, the 1889 novel of Jewish life in Victorian England, was quite unusual for its time. It was preceded by the 1888 novel of a business-minded family of sisters, The Romance of a Shop. 1889 also saw the publication of a significant collection of poetry, A London Plane Tree and Other Poems, and an additional novel, Miss Meredith.
Levy was the second Jewish woman at Cambridge University, and as the first Jewish student at Newnham College, Cambridge. She was becoming known for her feminist positions and friendships with others who would become known as “New Women.” Read More→
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