The Puritan poetess Anne Bradstreet (March 20, 1612 – September 16, 1672) was the first American female writer. Her first volume of poetry The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America was published in 1650. It was widely read in America and England.
Aphra Behn (1640 - April 16, 1689) was the first woman in England to be a professional writer. In 1668 Mrs Behn was recruited by King Charles II to be a spy in Antwerp. Upon her return to London she spent some time in debtors' prison, before taking up writing. Her output included 17 plays and, several novels and poems.
Behn's best known work was Oroonoko, her 1688 novel about the sufferings of an African prince and his loved one, who were transported by the English to slavery in Suriname. The work provoked the first sharp prick to the British public's conscience about the horrors of the slave trade.
Born in a remote country town, Hannah Adams (October 2, 1755 – December 15, 1831) lived at a time when a learned woman in New England was a rarity. Though frequently in frail health often poor and obliged to resort to various occupations for her sustenance, Adams doggedly pursued her studies. One day she was encouraged by a boarder in her family home to research comparative religions. The results of her research An Alphabetical Compendium of the Various Sects was published in 1784. It was well received and the emolument she derived from this enabled Adams to become the first American woman to support herself by writing.
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| Nineteenth century depiction of Anne Bradstreet. |
Aphra Behn (1640 - April 16, 1689) was the first woman in England to be a professional writer. In 1668 Mrs Behn was recruited by King Charles II to be a spy in Antwerp. Upon her return to London she spent some time in debtors' prison, before taking up writing. Her output included 17 plays and, several novels and poems.
Behn's best known work was Oroonoko, her 1688 novel about the sufferings of an African prince and his loved one, who were transported by the English to slavery in Suriname. The work provoked the first sharp prick to the British public's conscience about the horrors of the slave trade.
Born in a remote country town, Hannah Adams (October 2, 1755 – December 15, 1831) lived at a time when a learned woman in New England was a rarity. Though frequently in frail health often poor and obliged to resort to various occupations for her sustenance, Adams doggedly pursued her studies. One day she was encouraged by a boarder in her family home to research comparative religions. The results of her research An Alphabetical Compendium of the Various Sects was published in 1784. It was well received and the emolument she derived from this enabled Adams to become the first American woman to support herself by writing.
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| Portrait of Hannah Adams by Francis Alexander, c. 1828 |
Mark Twain wrote in his billiard room so that he could distract himself when stuck.
Marcel Proust and Truman Capote favored writing horizontally.
Texas-born Robert Fulghum became in 1989 the first author in history to have both the #1 and #2 books on the New York Times best-seller list: It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It and All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.
Source Chronicle of The World
Source Chronicle of The World
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