Women in Literature
Harriette Arnow (Wayne, 1908-1986)
Arnow is best known for her third novel, The Dollmaker, which won the National Book Award and was made into a major motion picture.
Joy Bale Boone (Barren, b. 1912)
Boone was Kentucky’s Poet Laureate between 1997-1999.
Janice Holt Giles (Adair, 1905-1979)
Giles built a log house in Knifley with her husband. Here, she wrote many historical novels that are set in Kentucky, including the autobiographical, Forty Acres and No Mule (1952) and The Kentuckians (1953).
Caroline Gordon (Todd, 1895-1981)
A writer of Kentucky fiction whose first novel was published in 1931. She received a Guggenheim Award in 1932, and the O. Henry Award in 1934. Her novels include The Woman on the Porch (1944) and None Shall Look Back (1937).
Bell Hooks (Christian, b. 1952)
A writer and scholar who has devoted her life and work to ending racial and gender
prejudice. Currently a professor at the City College of New York.
Read more about Bell Hooks.
Gayl Jones (Fayette, b. 1949)
Jones’ novels have brought her many awards such as a 1999 literary award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association for her book The Healing.
Barbara Kingsolver (Nicholas, b. 1955)
Her many awards include the American Library Association awards, 1988, for her book The Bean Trees, and 1990, for Homeland as well as a citation of accomplishment from United Nations National Council of Women, 1989.
Visit her Official Web site.
Bobbie Ann Mason (Graves, b. 1940)
Most of Mason’s novels are set in western Kentucky. In Country was made into a movie in 1988.
Learn more about Bobbie Ann Mason.
Marsha Norman (Jefferson, b. 1947)
A Louisville native who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for her play, “’night, Mother.”
Verna Mae Slone (Knott, b. 1914)
Slone’s 1979 book What My Heart Wants To Tell was her chance to tell the world about Appalachia from her perspective. Slone is also a well-known quilter and dollmaker.
Effie Waller Smith (Pike, 1879-1960)
A poet in Pikeville when black students had to leave the county for education beyond the 8th grade. She often wrote of the surrounding flora and fauna.
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