Great Female Authors

My husband and I both love to read.  A couple of weeks ago we got into an argument about feminism and writing and my husband said to me, "Name all the great female authors you can and don't you dare mention J. K. Rowling, Suzanne Collins, or Stephanie Meyers."  I'm ashamed to admit it but I totally froze and the only person I could think off the top of my head was Maya Angelo.  It hurt something deep inside of me and so I went looking for a list of great female authors not just popular ones, sorry Patricia Cornwell, Elizabeth George, and Agathra Cristie.  I came upon this list of the 100 Great 20th Century Works of Fiction by Woman selected by the Feminista! in response to the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century.  So folks I think I'm going to try and knock some of these off the list so that next time Dr. J and I have an argument about this subject and he starts throwing out names I'll have something to throw back :) P.S. Harper Lee and Amy Tan I'm so sorry I forgot you.  Your writing changed the way I thought about the world as a young girl.  Because of you ladies I'm hoping for great things out of the rest of this list!


Bastard Out of CarolinaDorothy Allison
I Know Why the Caged Bird SingsMaya Angelou
Cat's EyeMargaret Atwood
The Bottle Factory OutingBeryl Bainbridge
Gorilla, My LoveToni Cade Bambara
NightwoodDjuna Barnes
RegenerationPat Barker
Hotel du LacAnita Brookner
Rubyfruit JungleRita Mae Brown
The Good EarthPearl S. Buck
PossessionA. S. Byatt
Nights at the CircusAngela Carter
So Far From GodAna Castillo
My AntoniaWilla Cather
The AwakeningKate Chopin
The House on Mango StreetSandra Cisneros
Elders and BettersIvy Compton-Burnett
Clear Light of DayAnita Desai
Out of AfricaIsak Dinesen
Stones for IbarraHarriet Doerr
The Radiant WayMargaret Drabble
RebeccaDumaurier
Second Class CitizenBuchi Emecheta
TracksLouise Erdrich
At Freddie'sPenelope Fitzgerald
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop CafeFannie Flagg
Owls Do CryJanet Frame
The Women's RoomMarilyn French
The Mind-Body ProblemRebecca Goldstein
July's PeopleNadine Gordimer
The Rest of LifeMary Gordon
The Well of LonelinessRadclyffe Hall
When Rain Clouds GatherBessie Head
The Talented Mr. RipleyPatricia Highsmith
The FuriesJanet Hobhouse
The Bone PeopleKeri Hulme
Their Eyes Were Watching GodZora Neal Hurston
The Haunting of Hill HouseShirley Jackson
Heat and DustRuth Prawer Jhabvala
Fear of FlyingErica Jong
LucyJamaica Kincaid
The Bean TreesBarbara Kingsolver
Tripmaster MonkeyMaxine Hong Kingston
ObasanJoy Kogawa
The Fire-DwellersMargaret Laurence
To Kill A MockingbirdHarper Lee
The Golden NotebookDoris M. Lessing
Moon TigerPenelope Lively
Gentlemen Prefer BlondesAnita Loos
The Balkan TrilogyOlivia Manning
The GroupMary McCarthy
Ballad of the Sad CafeCarson McCullers
MamaTerry McMillan
Patience and SarahIsabel Miller
Gone with the WindMargaret Mitchell
AnagramsLorrie Moore
BelovedToni Morrison
WifeBharati Mukherjee
Lives of Girls and WomenAlice Munro
A Severed HeadIris Murdoch
House of Splendid IsolationEdna O'Brien
A Good Man is Hard to FindFlannery O'Connor
Tell Me a RiddleTillie Olsen
Enormous Changes at the Last MinuteGrace Paley
The Collected Stories of Dorothy ParkerDorothy Parker
Black TicketsJayne Anne Phillips
Braided LivesMarge Piercy
The Bell JarSylvia Plath
Ship of FoolsKatherine Anne Porter
The Golden SpurDawn Powell
The Shipping NewsE. Annie Proulx
The FountainheadAyn Rand
The King Must DieMary Renault
Wide Sargasso SeaJean Rhys
HousekeepingMarilynn Robinson
The God of Small ThingsArundati Roy
Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids SingingMay Sarton
The Stone DiariesCarol Shields
The Weight of WaterAnita Shreve
Anywhere But HereMona Simpson
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and WeptElizabeth Smart
The Age of GriefJane Smiley
The Volcano LoverSusan Sontag
The Prime Of Miss Jean BrodieMuriel Spark
AngelElizabeth Taylor
The Joy Luck ClubAmy Tan
If Morning Ever ComesAnne Tyler
AwayJane Urquhart
The Color PurpleAlice Walker
The Life and Loves of a She-DevilFay Weldon
The Collected Stories of Eudora WeltyEudora Welty
The Return of the SoldierRebecca West
Ethan FromeEdith Wharton
Frost in MayAntonia White
Oranges Are Not the Only FruitJeanette Winterson
Mrs. DallowayVirginia Woolf