Lauren Marino - Bookish Broads

For Liam and Maggie
My ultimate act of creativity;
you inspire me every day

Editors: Laura Dozier and Shannon Kelly

Designers: Diane Shaw and Jenice Kim

Production Manager: Kathleen Gaffney

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020931083

ISBN: 978-1-4197-4623-9

eISBN: 978-1-68335-955-5

Text copyright 2021 Lauren Marino

Illustrations copyright 2021 Alexandra Kilburn

Cover 2021 Abrams

Published in 2021 by Abrams, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Abrams books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification. For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com or the address below.

Abrams is a registered trademark of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

ABRAMS The Art of Books
195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007
abramsbooks.com

I am here to publicly confess that I am an addicta book addict. Im so hooked that I logged a super-geeky one hundred books during the summer between sixth and seventh grades. My reward (other than getting to constantly have my nose in a book) was a green T-shirt featuring a crazed monster and the declaration Beware! I am a bibliomaniac! I still have that T-shirt in a wardrobe in my childhood bedroom, and sometimes when I go visit my parents, I take it out and put it onjust in case anyone has forgotten who they are dealing with.

My bookworm ways have served me well as an English lit major, a professional book editor, and a published writer. Which is to say that in writing this book, it has been an absolute treat for me to delve deeply into the lives and work of the women I read growing up, those Ive admired as an adult, and those whom I amin my advanced stage of bibliomaniajust now discovering. I am the girl who used to spend all day Saturday at the library on the floor in the stacks going further and further down the rabbit hole of research for a paper. And while I didnt enter academia (the siren song of New York book publishing lured me away), I maintained my love of digging deep into a subject, and, in this case, the subjectthe many brave, brilliant, and downright amazing female storytellersresonated with me so strongly that I was compelled to learn and explore further, in order to share this story with others.

Women have experienced restricted access to education throughout most of historyand, as we know too well (thank you, Malala), they still do in many parts of the world. I wanted to tell the stories behind the storytellers and explore the obstacles they had to overcome to become writers and create the lasting works that they did. And, by the way, if you look at the works of the women featured in this book chronologically, youll see nothing less than a literary history of the female experience over the past thousand years.

What I discovered while writing this book is how much the greatest female writers have in common. They all loved books from a young age, and most started writing as soon as they could read. They were independent-minded and intelligent, and many were self-educateda common characteristic all the way into the twentieth century. They had to somehow secure access, through fate or perseverance, not only to books but to the organizationsand publishersthat supported literature. And many of them used their minds and writing instrumentsfountain pens, brushes, pencils, or computersto make a case for educational and legal rights for women.

Most of these bookish broads also had to face vocal critics, who typically didnt have a lot of subtlety when it came to expressing their disdain. Stick to your knitting. You have no talent. It isnt feminine; its even downright immoral for a woman to publish. If, as writer Lisa Kleypas said, a well-read woman is a dangerous creature, then what, pray tell, does that make a woman writer?

In a world where they had no voice, these women created one. Because, as we are still learning today, having a voice is how you get power. And through power, one can right the wrongs of the world. Or at least try to.

I had to make some tough choices about whom to include in this book, and sometimes I selfishly chose the women whose writing I personally loved or who I thought were particularly interesting or groundbreaking in some way. I couldnt even begin to delve into the poets, which is a book unto itself. Dont be mad if your favorite author isnt in here. I simply ran out of space and time. There are so many talented and renowned writers that I couldnt possibly fit them all in these pages, and Im as sorry about that as you are.

There are other factors that limit the women who appear in this collection. Many of the most renowned international literary ladies are only beginning to be translated into English, and if their work is not available in English, I cant read them. And when slavery was in effect, black women in the United States were forbidden from learning to read or write, so earlier writing by them is scarce. This, and the countless untold stories and talented women whose voices have been lost to readers through oppression or prejudice, is a subject that deserves an entire book of its own.

This book isnt meant to be encyclopedic or exhaustive; its meant to celebrate a selection of women who took up their pens, who were compelled to express themselves and comment on what they saw as flaws in society or on frustrations in their own lives that might resonate with other women. My hope in telling their stories is that you will be inspired to read some of their work and to understand the amazing legacy of female writers that is too often underappreciated. Still.

To this end, as a part of each profile, I have included some recommendations for further reading, if you are looking to explore the works of any of the women here in more detail. These recommendations are not comprehensive, but they offer a starting point.

This is a book for all book lovers, for readers but also for writers and aspiring writers of all ages and backgrounds. Anyone who has ever poured their heart and soul onto paper and then pared it down, reworked it, and revised it, trying to make it sing, knows the difficulty and self-doubt involved in putting ideas into words. To do all of that, despite the harsh criticism, overt discrimination, and limited access to education, resources, and fair pay that most of these women facedwell, it just goes to show how determined these writers were.

All of the unconventional rabble-rousers featured in the pages that follow wrote themselves into history. They were ahead of their time, and they didnt let their fear get the best of them. They were able to express their vision so well that their works continue to make an impact today, and with this book, I hope to do my part in honoring their legacy and helping a new generation of readers and writers find inspiration and hope in their incredible stories.