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I am a college student. I have been studying art, literature, and creative writing. Over the course of my time at college, I have begun to get frustrated because I seem to end up studying the same group of white men over and over again. Well I think there is a reason to study them, they made great advances in their fields, I want to step outside of this box. For my senior year (I am currently a Junior) I have the opportunity to design part of my reading list myself. So I want to read books by female authors. I want books written in a wide variety of time periods and I am looking for books that are either renowned for being well written or that are popular. I would love recommendations as I begin to build this list!

Who are your favorite female authors?
Do you love a specific book of theirs?
What makes them your favorite?

There are a lot of excellent women writers. I love fantasy and my two favorite fantasy writers are Gail Carson Levine and Anne Elizabeth Stengl.

Tosca Lee and Erin Healy are two really good authors whose writing I really enjoy. They both have also cowritten with Ted Dekker which is never a bad thing. Ted's daughter Rachelle is also a newer author who I have just begun reading as well.

One of my favourite female author is Jane Austen. She has written some really enjoyable classics.

Ella Carmichael is a very good author.

Vermont Reviews

I absolutely LOVE Jodi Picoult. The suspense, the law aspect, the twists... she wrote a historical fiction about the holocaust called The Storyteller and it is BY FAR my most favorite book written by her.

Well...being that you are a college student and want to read novels by famous female authors, I feel compelled to tell you to read "The Tale of Genji" by Murasaki Shikibu both because it is the first novel ever written (it was written in the early eleventh century) and it was written by a Japanese woman. This is why I read it, because I wanted to read the first novel ever written. HOWEVER, I have to say that I did not actually like it. The naming system makes it difficult to follow (everyone is named by their position and every year their positions change, so their names all flip around) the plot is super meandering, and there are certain parts of ancient Japanese culture that is very hard to accept as a modern day reader. BUT it is the first novel ever written, so it is revolutionary in its own right.

It's cliche to suggest JK Rowling but her first book after Harry Potter, The Casual Vacancy, affected me in ways the HP books never could (and I adored those). Honestly this book left echoes in my soul and I think it has one of the best climaxes I've ever read. I also love Claudia Rankine and Roxanne Gay though they write poetry and nonfiction, respectively, so I'm not sure how helpful that is.

So far my favorite female author is Libba Bray. Her Gemma Doyle series makes her my favorite because it offers a tangible range of themes regarding womanhood and attitudes toward religion in the late 19th century.

I really recommend Sarah Waters if you like fast-paced literary fiction. I wouldn't say her range in terms of time period is very vast- she's only written about 2 time periods between all of her books, I believe. The ones I've read by her are set in the Victorian era, but she does do a good job of imagining different perspectives and ways of living during those times. I just finished Tipping The Velvet, and I thought it was a really gripping one!

I recently read Reality Dreamers by K.M. Frost. That was a pretty good book by a female author.

The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell is one of the greatest books ever written.

When I did Gothic literature at uni we studied the bronte sisters. Also you may enjoy "big house" fiction by some Irish female authors. Mumsnet book club also has a review of current female authors across a wide range of book themes. I hope that helps.

I understand! I just finished my MFA and had a similar problem...until I did some research and found recommendations by amazing advisors and friends. I'd recommend The Year the Horses Came by Mary Mackey - she is a fantastic writer who focuses on strong characters. I would recommend the Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston, Fledgling by Octavia Butler, and Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Angel. Anything by Ursula Le Guin is fantastic. I choose these novels and writers because I learned something from each of them about the human condition. Also, the stories are really well written. Best reading! Oh, and you've probably already read her work, but Jane Austen is the best writer ever.

Ignoring the fact that you may have already developed an expanse list, I highly suggest that you read We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. Its characters are complex both individually and together. Also, it's a love story! I'm predicting you're probably rolling your eyes at that, so let me elaborate. Replacing the traditional boy meets girl love story, this book addresses the bond between twin siblings. One a girl and the other a chimpanzee. Please allow me to perhaps overstate that the chimpanzee is not considered a pet, but a child/sibling. With the risk of giving away too much, that is all I have to say. Hopefully I've piqued your interest enough that you will give this book a shot. Please let me know if you do. And let me know if you found any books during your search that are worth a read. Best wishes.