#OnThisDay, 1 Sept 1773, Phillis Wheatley's collection of poetry is published in London: the first known collection by an African-American poet.

Read more about her life, and selected poems at: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/phillis-wheatley (CW: contains descriptions of enslavement)

#WomenInHistory #Histodons #LiteraryWomen #AmericanHistory #BlackHistory

#OnThisDay, 3 Jun 2009, Marilyne Robinson wins the Orange Prize for fiction (now the Women's Prize for Fiction ) for her novel 'Home'.

#ReadMoreWomen #LiteraryWomen

#OnThisDay, 30 May 2012, Madeline Miller wins the Orange Prize (now the Baileys Prize) with her debut novel The Song of Achilles. It is a retelling of the Illiad from the perspective of Patroclus.

#ReadMoreWomen #LiteraryWomen #ClassicsRetold

#OnThisDay, 6 May 1935, Audrey Wurdemann wins the Pulitzer prize for poetry for her collection 'Bright Ambush'.

#WomenInHistory #LiteraryWomen #Poetry #Histodons #PulitzerPrize

#OnThisDay, 1 May 2009, Carol Ann Duffy becomes the first woman to be appointed Poet Laureate of the UK in the post’s 340+ year history.

The poet laureate is an honorary position, appointed by the monarch, and the poet is expected to produce poems for significant national occasions.

#LiteraryWomen

#OnThisDay, 27 April 1925, Edna Ferber wins the Pulitzer Prize for fiction with her novel 'So Big'.

She donates the prize money to the Authors League to support sick and elderly authors.

#WomenInHistory #Histodons #LiteraryWomen #PultizerPrize

#OnThisDay, 19 Apr 1927, Mae West is convicted on obscenity charges for her play 'sex', and started a 10 day jail sentence.

#WomenInHistory #ReclaimTheFrame #LiteraryWomen #MaeWest #Histodons

#OnThisDay, 19 Apr 1927, Mae West is convicted on obscenity charges for her play 'sex', and started a 10 day jail sentence.

#WomenInHistory #ReclaimTheFrame #LiteraryWomen #MaeWest

#OnThisDay, 18 Apr 1905, Baroness Bertha von Suttner becomes the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her activism.

As well as writing an influential novel, Lay Down Your Arms (1889), she had founded the German Peace Society in 1892. In 1907 she was the only woman to attend the Second Hague Peace Convention, and warned that Europe was heading for war once again.

#WomenInHistory #WomenPeaceActivists #NobelWomen #EuropeanHistory #LiteraryWomen

#OnThisDay, 18 Apr 1905, Baroness Bertha von Suttner becomes the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her activism.

As well as writing an influential novel, Lay Down Your Arms (1889), she had founded the German Peace Society in 1892. In 1907 she was the only woman to attend the Second Hague Peace Convention, and warned that Europe was heading for war once again.

#WomenInHistory #WomenPeaceActivists #NobelWomen #EuropeanHistory #LiteraryWomen

Happy Minna Canth day, Finland!
Born #OnThisDay, 19 Mar 1844, Minna Canth. Finnish playwright and social activist. Public buildings will fly the national flag to celebrate.

#WomenInHistory #LiteraryWomen #Histodons

#OnThisDay, 11 Mar 1959, Lorraine Hansberry's play, A Raisin in the Sun, is the first play by a black woman to debut on Broadway.

#WomensHistoryMonth
#WomenWriters #LiteraryWomen #AmericanHistory #BroadwayHistory #Histodons #BlackHistory

Jane Juska was one of my high school English teachers. Somehow, she managed to show a bored, snarky teenager the beauty and power of the written word. Thank you, Jane.

#LiteraryWomen #literature #gratitude

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/obituaries/jane-juska-who-wrote-of-late-life-sex-dies-at-84.amp.html

#OnThisDay, 20 Jan 1993, Maya Angelou reads her poem ‘On the Pulse of Morning’ at Bill Clinton’s inauguration as President of the USA. She becomes the first woman and the first African-American poet to read at the event.

Video: https://youtu.be/OQQThtav41o

#LiteraryWomen WomenInHistory #AmericanHistory #Histodons

#OnThisDay, 14 Jan 1963, Sylvia Plath's only novel, 'The Bell Jar' is published in the UK under the name Victoria Lucas. It’s republished in her own name in 1967.

Bonus article on some of the, er, curious cover choices. You can probably date yourself by which cover you recognise.
https://lithub.com/15-covers-for-the-bell-jar-ranked-from-most-to-least-sexist/

#WomenInHistory #LiteraryWomen #History #Histodons #Bookstadon

#OnThisDay, 2 Jan 1969, Lorraine Hansberry's posthumous autobiographical play 'To Be Young, Gifted and Black' opens off-Broadway in New York City.
Its run inspires her friend Nina Simone to write the song of the same name.

#WomenInHistory #LiteraryWomen #AmericanHistory #histodons

Listen to Simone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hdVFiANBTk

It's ALIVE! #OnThisDay, 1 Jan 1818, Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' is published anonymously. Her gothic novel is also one of the first science-fiction novels.

#WomenInSFF
#WomenWriters #WomenInHistory #Histodons #Bookstadon #LiteraryWomen

#OnThisDay, 23 Dec 1815, the much-anticipated fourth novel “by the author of Pride and Prejudice”, Emma, is published.

Jane Austen died 18 months later, never seeing her name publicly on her work.

#WomenInHistory #LiteraryWomen #bookstadon #histodons #JaneAusten

#OnThisDay, 23 Dec 1815, the much-anticipated fourth novel “by the author of Pride and Prejudice”, Emma, is published.

Jane Austen died 18 months later, never seeing her name publicly on her work.

#WomenInHistory #LiteraryWomen #bookstadon #histodons #JaneAusten

#OnThisDay, 16 Dec 1901, Beatrix Potter self-publishes 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit' after repeated rejections.

Picked up by a publisher, it has now sold more than 45 million copies.

#WomenInHistory #LiteraryWomen #Bookstadon #Histodon