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Twentieth-Century Women Writers
List compiled by Theresa Strouth Gaul
  Year Author Last Name Author First Name Book
         
  2009 Adichie Chimamanda Ngozi The Thing Around Your Neck
  1993 Allison Dorothy Bastard out of Carolina
  1974 Angelou Maya Gather Together in My Name
  1999 Anzaldua Gloria Borderlands/La Frontera
  1954 Arnow Harriet The Dollmaker
  1985 Atwood Margaret The Handmaid's Tale
  1996 Atwood Margaret Alias Grace
  1963 Barnes Djuna Nightwood
  1983-2008 Bechdel Alison The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For
  1968 Brooks Gwendolyn The Mecca
  1979 Butler* Octavia Kindred
  1993 Butler Octavia Parable of the Sower
  1990 Byatt A. S. Possession
  1997 Cao Lan Monkey Bridge
  1962 Carson Rachel Silent Spring
  1994 Castillo Ann Massacre of the Dreamers
  1913 Cather Willa O Pioneers!
  1915 Cather Willa The Song of the Lark
  1918 Cather Willa My Antonia
  1925 Cather Willa The Professor's House
  1927 Cather Willa Death Comes for the Archbishop
  1997 Chambers Veronica Mama's Girl
  1899 Chopin Kate The Awakening
  1984 Cisneros Sandra House on Mango Street
  1991 Cisneros Sandra Woman Hollering Creek
  1984 Cliff Michelle Abeng
  1987 Cliff Michelle No Telephone to Heaven
  1976 Clifton* Lucille Generations
  1994 Danticatt Edwidge Breath, Eyes, Memory
  1970 Didion Joan Play it as it Lays
  1996 Didion Joan The Last Thing He Wanted
  1986 Dove Rita Thomas and Beulah
  2003 Erdich* Louise The Master Butchers Singing Club
  1982 Erdich Louise Love Medicine
  2003 Finney Nikky The World is Round
  1924 Fisher Dorothy Canfield The Home-Maker
  1963 Friedan Betty The Feminine Mystique
  1978 Giovanni Nikki Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day
  1916 Gladspell Susan Trifles
  1916 H. D.   Sea Garden
  1952-54 H. D.   Helen in Egypt
  1959 Hansberry Lorraine A Raisin in the Sun
  1943 Hathaway Katherine Butler The Little Locksmith
  1987 Hejinian Lyn My Life
  1973 Houston Jeanne Wakatsuki A Farewell to Manzanar
  1937 Hurston Zora Neale Their Eyes Were Watching God
  1962 Jackson Shirley We Have Always Lived in the Castle
  1961 Jacobs Jane The Death and Life of Great Amer Cities
  1980 Jordan June Poem About My Rights
  1997 Jordan June Kissing God Goodbye
  1985 Kincaid Jamaica Annie John
  1988 Kincaid Jamaica A Small Place
  1998 Kingsolver* Barbara Poisonwood Bible
  2000 Kingsolver Barbara Prodigal Summer
  1988 Kingsolver Barbara Bean Trees
  1976 Kingston Maxine Hong The Woman Warrior
  1980 Kingston Maxine Hong China Men
  1999 Lahiri Jhumpa Interpreter of Maladies
  2003 Lahiri Jhumpa The Namesake
  1929 Larson Nella Passing
  1960 Lee Harper To Kill a Mockingbird
  1974 LeGuin Ursula The Dispossessed
  1994 LeGuin Ursula A Fisherman of the Inland Sea
  2007 LeGuin Ursula Powers
  1982 Lorde Audre A New Spelling of My Name
  1984 Lorde Audre Sister Outsider
  1959 Marshall Paule Brown Girl, Brownstones
  1983 Marshall Paule Praisesong for the Widow
  1957 McCarthy Mary Memories of a Catholic Girlhood
  1936 Mitchell Margaret Gone with the Wind
  1968 Moody Anne Coming of Age in Mississippi
  1919 Moore Marianne Poetry
  1970 Morrison* Toni The Bluest Eye
  1973 Morrison Toni Sula
  1977 Morrison Toni Song of Solomon
  1981 Morrison Toni Tar Baby
  1992 Morrison Toni Playing in the Dark
  1998 Morrison Toni Paradise
  2008 Morrison Toni A Mercy
  1987 Morrison Toni Beloved
  1975 Mukherjee Bharati Wife
  1993 Mukherjee Bharati The Holder of the World
  1988 Naylor Gloria Mama Day
  1969 Oates Joyce Carol Them
  1992 Oates Joyce Carol Black Water
  2006 Oates Joyce Carol Black Girl/White Girl
  1952 O'Connor Flannery Wise Blood
  1965 O'Connor Flannery Everything that Rises Must Converge
  1980 Olsen Tillie Tell Me A Riddle
  1994 Paley Grace Collected Stories
  1996 Parks Suzan-Lori Venus
  2001 Parks Suzan-Lori Topdog/Underdog
  1946 Petry Ann The Street
  1963 Plath Sylvia The Bell Jar
  1981 Plath Sylvia Collected Poems
  1983 Rich Adrienne Your Native Land, Your Life
  1984 Rich Adrienne The Fact of a Doorframe
  2004 Rich Adrienne The School Among the Ruins
  1980 Robinson Marilynne Housekeeping
  2004 Robinson Marilynne Gilead
  1938 Rukeyser Muriel Book of the Dead
  1949 Rukeyser Muriel Life of Poetry
  1996 Sapphire   Push
  1998 Senna Danzy Caucasia
  1971 Sexton Anne Transformations
  1993 Shields Carol The Stone Diaries
  1977 Silko Leslie Marmon Ceremony
  1991 Smiley Jane A Thousand Acres
  2002 Sontag Susan Regarding the Pain of Others
  2010 Stafford Jean The Mountain Lion
  1909 Stein Gertrude Three Lives
  2000 Trethewey Natasha Domestic Work
  2006 Trethewey Natasha Native Guard
  1995 Viramontes Helena Under the Feet of Jesus
  1970 Walker Alice The Third Life of Grange Copeland
  1982 Walker Alice The Color Purple
  1992 Walker Alice Possessing the Secret of Joy
  2001 Walker Rebecca Black, White, and Jewish
  1999 Waters Sarah Affinity
  1941 Welty Eudora A Curtin of Green and Other Stories
  1949 Welty Eudora The Golden Apples
  1972 Welty Eudora The Optimist's Daughter
  1905 Wharton Edith The House of Mirth
  1917 Wharton Edith Sumner
  1920 Wharton Edith The Age of Innocence
  1986 Williams Sherley Ann Dessa Rose
  1992 Winterson Jeannette Written on the Body
  1996 Wolf Christa Medea
  1923 Yezierska Anzia Salome of the Tenements
  1923 Yezierska Anzia Children of Loneliness
  1925 Yezierska Anzia Bread Givers
  1927 Yezierska Anzia Arrogant Beggar
         
Note: Names marked with an * also had a vote for "anything by her."  
         
         
         
         
         
  Year Author Last Name Author First Name Book
         
  1899 Chopin Kate The Awakening
         
  1905 Wharton Edith The House of Mirth
  1909 Stein Gertrude Three Lives
         
  1913 Cather Willa O Pioneers!
  1915 Cather Willa The Song of the Lark
  1916 Gladspell Susan Trifles
  1916 H. D.   Sea Garden
  1917 Wharton Edith Sumner
  1918 Cather Willa My Antonia
  1919 Moore Marianne Poetry
         
  1920 Wharton Edith The Age of Innocence
  1923 Yezierska Anzia Salome of the Tenements
  1923 Yezierska Anzia Children of Loneliness
  1924 Fisher Dorothy Canfield The Home-Maker
  1925 Cather Willa The Professor's House
  1925 Yezierska Anzia Bread Givers
  1927 Cather Willa Death Comes for the Archbishop
  1927 Yezierska Anzia Arrogant Beggar
  1929 Larson Nella Passing
         
  1936 Mitchell Margaret Gone with the Wind
  1937 Hurston Zora Neale Their Eyes Were Watching God
  1938 Rukeyser Muriel Book of the Dead
         
  1941 Welty Eudora A Curtin of Green and Other Stories
  1943 Hathaway Katherine Butler The Little Locksmith
  1946 Petry Ann The Street
  1949 Rukeyser Muriel Life of Poetry
  1949 Welty Eudora The Golden Apples
         
  1952 O'Connor Flannery Wise Blood
  1952-54 H. D.   Helen in Egypt
  1954 Arnow Harriet The Dollmaker
  1957 McCarthy Mary Memories of a Catholic Girlhood
  1959 Hansberry Lorraine A Raisin in the Sun
  1959 Marshall Paule Brown Girl, Brownstones
         
  1960 Lee Harper To Kill a Mockingbird
  1961 Jacobs Jane The Death and Life of Great Amer Cities
  1962 Carson Rachel Silent Spring
  1962 Jackson Shirley We Have Always Lived in the Castle
  1963 Barnes Djuna Nightwood
  1963 Friedan Betty The Feminine Mystique
  1963 Plath Sylvia The Bell Jar
  1965 O'Connor Flannery Everything that Rises Must Converge
  1968 Brooks Gwendolyn The Mecca
  1968 Moody Anne Coming of Age in Mississippi
  1969 Oates Joyce Carol Them
         
  1970 Didion Joan Play it as it Lays
  1970 Morrison* Toni The Bluest Eye
  1970 Walker Alice The Third Life of Grange Copeland
  1971 Sexton Anne Transformations
  1972 Welty Eudora The Optimist's Daughter
  1973 Houston Jeanne Wakatsuki A Farewell to Manzanar
  1973 Morrison Toni Sula
  1974 Angelou Maya Gather Together in My Name
  1974 LeGuin Ursula The Dispossessed
  1975 Mukherjee Bharati Wife
  1976 Clifton* Lucille Generations
  1976 Kingston Maxine Hong The Woman Warrior
  1977 Morrison Toni Song of Solomon
  1977 Silko Leslie Marmon Ceremony
  1978 Giovanni Nikki Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day
  1979 Butler* Octavia Kindred
         
  1980 Jordan June Poem About My Rights
  1980 Kingston Maxine Hong China Men
  1980 Olsen Tillie Tell Me A Riddle
  1980 Robinson Marilynne Housekeeping
  1981 Morrison Toni Tar Baby
  1981 Plath Sylvia Collected Poems
  1982 Erdich Louise Love Medicine
  1982 Lorde Audre A New Spelling of My Name
  1982 Walker Alice The Color Purple
  1983 Marshall Paule Praisesong for the Widow
  1983 Rich Adrienne Your Native Land, Your Life
  1983-2008 Bechdel Alison The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For
  1984 Cisneros Sandra House on Mango Street
  1984 Cliff Michelle Abeng
  1984 Lorde Audre Sister Outsider
  1984 Rich Adrienne The Fact of a Doorframe
  1985 Atwood Margaret The Handmaid's Tale
  1985 Kincaid Jamaica Annie John
  1986 Dove Rita Thomas and Beulah
  1986 Williams Sherley Ann Dessa Rose
  1987 Cliff Michelle No Telephone to Heaven
  1987 Hejinian Lyn My Life
  1987 Morrison Toni Beloved
  1988 Kincaid Jamaica A Small Place
  1988 Kingsolver Barbara Bean Trees
  1988 Naylor Gloria Mama Day
         
  1990 Byatt A. S. Possession
  1991 Cisneros Sandra Woman Hollering Creek
  1991 Smiley Jane A Thousand Acres
  1992 Morrison Toni Playing in the Dark
  1992 Oates Joyce Carol Black Water
  1992 Walker Alice Possessing the Secret of Joy
  1992 Winterson Jeannette Written on the Body
  1993 Allison Dorothy Bastard out of Carolina
  1993 Butler Octavia Parable of the Sower
  1993 Mukherjee Bharati The Holder of the World
  1993 Shields Carol The Stone Diaries
  1994 Castillo Ann Massacre of the Dreamers
  1994 Danticatt Edwidge Breath, Eyes, Memory
  1994 LeGuin Ursula A Fisherman of the Inland Sea
  1994 Paley Grace Collected Stories
  1995 Viramontes Helena Under the Feet of Jesus
  1996 Atwood Margaret Alias Grace
  1996 Didion Joan The Last Thing He Wanted
  1996 Parks Suzan-Lori Venus
  1996 Sapphire   Push
  1996 Wolf Christa Medea
  1997 Cao Lan Monkey Bridge
  1997 Chambers Veronica Mama's Girl
  1997 Jordan June Kissing God Goodbye
  1998 Kingsolver* Barbara Poisonwood Bible
  1998 Morrison Toni Paradise
  1998 Senna Danzy Caucasia
  1999 Anzaldua Gloria Borderlands/La Frontera
  1999 Lahiri Jhumpa Interpreter of Maladies
  1999 Waters Sarah Affinity
         
  2000 Kingsolver Barbara Prodigal Summer
  2000 Trethewey Natasha Domestic Work
  2001 Parks Suzan-Lori Topdog/Underdog
  2001 Walker Rebecca Black, White, and Jewish
  2002 Sontag Susan Regarding the Pain of Others
  2003 Erdich* Louise The Master Butchers Singing Club
  2003 Finney Nikky The World is Round
  2003 Lahiri Jhumpa The Namesake
  2004 Rich Adrienne The School Among the Ruins
  2004 Robinson Marilynne Gilead
  2006 Oates Joyce Carol Black Girl/White Girl
  2006 Trethewey Natasha Native Guard
  2007 LeGuin Ursula Powers
  2008 Morrison Toni A Mercy
  2009 Adichie Chimamanda Ngozi The Thing Around Your Neck
         
  2010 Stafford Jean The Mountain Lion
         
Note: Names marked with an * also had a vote for "anything by her."