14 Classic Women Authors and Their Dogs
By Nava Atlas | On April 1, 2015 | Updated November 1, 2024 | Comments (10)
Just like the rest of us, famed writers loved their furry companions, amply illustrated by this roundup of classic women authors and their dogs.
Dogs, cats, and other companion animals (bunnies, domesticated birds, etc.) bring comfort and joy in good times and bad and can be good company whether the writing is flowing or comes with difficulty.
The unwavering love and devotion of dogs are much welcomed in a profession that can sometimes be lonely.
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Beatrix Potter
Beatrix Potter grew up with quite a menagerie from an early age — rabbits included. It’s not surprising that she grew up to create Peter Rabbit and other classic books for children. Above, at age 15. The very spirit of an entrepreneurial author, she self-published Peter Rabbit before Warne & Co. were wise enough to pick it up and went on to publish her many diminutive books starring rabbits, toads, mice, ducks, and other animals.
Here’s Beatrix again at a much later stage in life with another beloved dog. The last decades of her life were devoted to farming and land preservation in England’s Lake Country. With the fortune she earned from her books she bought up vast lands in England’s Lake Country, and donated them to the National Trust to preserve and remain undeveloped forever.
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Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton as a young heiress before she became an award-winning novelist, with her duo of dogs, circa 1899. As a shy, bookish girl who felt out of sorts with the privileged New York upper crust she was born into, her dogs must have given her much comfort and company.
Here’s Edith again, much later in life, her penchant for two small dogs in hand intact — this time Pekingese. As a fledgling writer, she received out-and-out disapproval from those closest to her, including her mother and society friends, who thought that literary pursuits were beneath a person of her class. Fortunately, she followed her passion and wrote classics including Ethan Frome, The Age of Innocence, Custom of the Country, and so many more.
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Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein (right) and Alice B. Toklas were devoted to one another and to their dog, the oddly named Basket. Gertrude, often known as “The Godmother of the Lost Generation,” and Alice, her longtime partner, made their home in Paris.
Here’s another one with the formidable Gertrude and Basket. She was actually softer and jollier than her stern demeanor might have suggested, as evidenced by some of her delightfully perplexing bon mots and absurd modernist poetry. She didn’t say “a dog is a dog is a dog,” but she may well have.
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Radclyffe Hall
Radclyffe Hall (right) and her partner Una Troubridge looking tough, while their bulldogs look decidedly gentle. Hall’s 1928 novel The Well of Loneliness is considered a classic of LGBTQ literature and was more than a lesbian novel, as it’s often described. Written at a time when there was scant language for the concept, the protagonist struggles with her gender identity. It caused quite a ruckus and was completely banned in England until years after Hall’s death.
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Daphne du Maurier
Daphne du Maurier is pictured with a big bundle of fur in a photo from 1936. This prolific British novelist, playwright, and short story writer was best known for Rebecca (1938), My Cousin Rachel (1951), and other finely constructed works of suspense.
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Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf poses with her dog Pinka in her garden at her home, Monk’s House. The epitome of literary genius, despite debilitating battles with mental breakdowns, she produced a body of work considered among the most groundbreaking in twentieth-century literature.
Not a great photo, but a rare one, here are Virginia Woolf and Pinka, with her fellow author and dear friend Vita Sackville-West and her dog Pippen.
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Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker’s acid wit may have been a way to blunt the fact that she really didn’t have an easy life. But she seemed to take great comfort from her adorable dog. The American journalist, short story writer, and poet’s unique way with words was most famously applied to her verses. One of the founding members of the Algonquin Roundtable, an exclusive group of eminent New York City writers in the early twentieth century, she was also a Civil Rights activist.
Rachel Field and her dog, Spriggen (photo: Portland Library, Maine), who went everywhere with her, even to the set of All This, and Heaven, Too, when it was being filmed. Here’s Spriggen with Rachel and none other than Bette Davis, the star of the 1940 film adaptation.
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Margaret Wise Brown
Here’s Margaret Wise Brown, the author of Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, and more than 100 other children’s books, with her dog, the creatively named Crispin’s Crispian. She was also an influential editor whose vision ushered in an era of innovative children’s books. Margaret lived a fascinating, complicated, and all too short life.
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Tasha Tudor
Tasha Tudor’s Corgis received her abiding affection. “How could you resist a Corgi?” she was known to ask. Indeed, it’s hard to think of a more adorable dog. Tasha wrote and illustrated some two dozen of her own titles (some starring corgis), and in addition, her exquisitely detailed watercolors and drawings grace scores of other books. She became nearly as famous for her unconventional lifestyle. Read more about her love for these adorable dogs.
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Mary Oliver
Mary Oliver, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet who so sensitively observed nature, is at home with her own shaggy muse. Her work reflects a deeply rooted harmony with the natural world. Numerous collections of her poems have been published, including, appropriately, Dog Songs, described as ” a celebration of the special bond between human and dog.”
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Caresse Crosby
Caresse Crosby was known as a patron to the Lost Generation and other expatriate writers in Paris of the late 1920s. She was the co-founder of Black Sun Press, which published early works of writers who would have a lasting impact. She was also the inventor of the modern bra. Here she is with her whippet.
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Elizabeth Barrett Browning
This isn’t an actual photo of the brilliant English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 – 1861) and her dog Flush, because none exist. Rather, it’s Norma Shearer as Elizabeth in the 1934 film, The Barretts of Wimpole Street. Flush, her beloved spaniel, was a great comfort to Elizabeth after the early death of her brother. You can read her poetic tribute, “To Flush, My Dog” right here on this site.
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The mutual devotion between Emily Brontë and her huge mastiff Keeper was surprising, given the brutal way in which Emily asserted her role as the “alpha” of the two. But once dog and mistress settled on who was in charge, it became a story of a dog’s undying loyalty for his mistress, and hers for him.
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And if you gravitate to cats …
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Hi Nava,
This was a fun and interesting read. Thanks. You might add poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her pet, Flush. Esoteric bit of info, I know–but I am an EBB fan, and years ago, I actually read Flush’s biography by V. Woolf. As I recall, it was mildly entertaining.
Check out a photo of the two besties at https://bagavath4u.blogspot.com/2012/04/elizabeth-barrett-browning-and-flush.html .
What a great idea, Yolanda, thanks! I added EBB and Flush at the end. I should have thought of it, especially since I recently published a post about her poem, “To Flush, My Dog.”
Wonderful photos. I have always had dogs and cats. Now I am down to fourteen cats so I can really relate.. I love to see pictures of authors with their pets. Thanks so much for posting.
Wow, that’s a lot of cats. I recognize your name from the FB Literary Ladies page … thank you for your comment, Shelley!
Thank you. I think all those highly creative women were animal lovers, e.g Beatrix Potter.
During these globally most difficult times, instead of twiddling thumbs I’m reading Colette, Gigi and racking my brains as to writing a number one best seller. If it were that easy we’d all be best sellers.
Yes, Elizabeth, there are a lot of animal lovers among the Literary Ladies. Reading the classics is a great idea in these troubled times. I’m reading a lot by/about Zora Neale Hurston these days. And good luck with your own writing … fewer distractions and solitude are good for us writers.
Hi Nava!!! Love the authors with their dogs and cats. As always- Max
Hi Max! Greetings from Reykjavik. I don’t see all that many dogs here (lots of street cats, though). Probably too cold …
This is priceless. Thank you.
Thank you, Asta!