This Women’s History Month, we wanted to celebrate by compiling a list of 10 great women writers– from Harriet Jacobs to Alison Bechdel, women’s voices have proven to be continually perceptive in response to their environment and experiences.
1. Living a Feminist Life: Sara Ahmed
Sara Ahmed’s book embodies a critical and precise perspective on modern feminism and continues to do the feminist work she urges her readers to adopt and embody. Living a Feminist Life is a must-have for any writer in your life.
2. Fun Home:Alison Bechdel
Set in her family’s funeral home, Bechdel’s intimately written tragicomic focuses on themes of sexuality, gender, adolescence and loss. This graphic memoir’s dark humor, captivating visuals and character arcs will have you turning pages from the introduction. Bonus: Fun Home is BookPeoples staff pick!
Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale has withstood time as a marker of women’s agency in the face of gross injustices. Atwood’s dystopian fiction is a quick read and will be one you reach for time and again.
4. Once and Future: Amy Rose Capetta, Cori McCarthy. 
This young adult fantasy novel is a queer and inclusive revival of The Legend of Excalibur– through the perspective of King Arthur’s 42nd incarnation, Ari Helix. Look out for this book from our talented faculty members, releasing March 29th!
5. Ain’t I?: Kai Davis
Kai Davis examines mental health, blackness, womanhood, and being American in this exceptionally reflective collection of poems. We also recommend watching this video of Kai Davis performing ‘Ain’t I A Woman?’ and how the piece was inspired by Sojourner Truth’s speech at the 1851 Women’s Rights Convention.
6. Becoming: Michelle Obama 
By the end of the first chapter, I had laughed, cried, empathized, and ultimately felt at home while reading Becoming. Michelle Obama’s assuaging and confident narrative brings the reader in, inviting them along to experience her life throughout her book, sparing no detail in her imperfect yet tenacious process of becoming. (P.S., be on the look-out for our event re-cap regarding her conversation at the Frank Erwin Center later this week!)
7. Poisonwood Bible: Barbara Kingsolver
Set in 1959 Belgian Congo, this historical fiction is a commentary on exploitative colonialism, religion, adolescence, marriage and motherhood, witnessed through each Price woman’s perspective. Poignant and deliciously complex, this novel will demand your commentary.
8. Your Silence Will Not Protect You: Audre Lorde 
A staple of intersectional feminist writing, these thought provoking essays and poems are a perfect way to celebrate Women’s History Month. Lorde’s writing demands consideration, and reflects on injustices while providing a plan of action for women readers.
9. Borderlands/ La Frontera: Gloria Anzaldúa
Anzaldúa’s experience as a Chicana, a feminist, a lesbian and an activist inspired her work, Borderlands; a profoundly interesting read which will reshape your understandings of what borderlands are and how they are constructed, socially and physically, advising us on how to navigate between the complex social spaces we inhabit. This collection of essays and poems are still as relevant and accessible as they were over 25 years after its original publication, and is a book you can read again and again, and still find something new to appreciate.
10. Incidents in The Life of A Slave Girl: Harriet Jacobs 
In this moving autobiography, Harriet Jacobs discloses her harrowing experience struggling to claim her identity and freedom; a story of one woman’s tenacity. Every reader should experience reading Jacobs’ first hand account of slavery in America. An illuminating, heartbreaking and, paradoxically, liberating read. Check out this awesome book review by our Senior Intern, Kat Shuttlesworth to learn more.
Post by WB intern Madison Hayslette
Madison Hayslette is a senior at Southwestern University, studying English & Art History with a specialization in film and feminist studies. When she’s not traveling across the United States on the back of a motorcycle, she reads Walt Whitman, tours art museums, and drinks enough oolong tea to hydrate a small country. She currently dabbles in creative writing and indulging her artistic passions, from poetry to painting to academic research.