Phillis Wheatley
Despite spending much of her life enslaved, Phillis Wheatley was the first African American and second woman (after Anne Bradstreet) to publish a book of poems.
Category Archives: Writer > Poetry
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al-Khansa
Tumadir bint Amru al-Harith bint al-Sharid, better known as al-Khansāʾ, was one of the most influential poets of Arabia’s pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods in the 7th century. Born into a powerful family near Mecca and Medina, much of her work was inspired by her brothers Ṣakhr and Muʿāwiyah, who died in tribal battles. At the time, the role of female poets was to write elegies for the dead and perform them for the tribe in public oral competitions. Al-Khansāʾ won acclaim in these competitions with her work, and is widely considered as the finest author of Arabic elegies and one of the greatest and best known female Arab poets of all time. In 629, she went to Medina with a group from her clan and, after meeting the Prophet Muhammad, embraced the new religion of Islam. Some sources say she was the favourite poet of Muhammad, who wept when he heard her elegies for her brothers.
Alba Roballo
Alba Roballo was a prominent Afro-Uruguayan lawyer, poet and politician, who was Uruguay’s first woman Cabinet member, first woman Culture Minister, and first woman elected to the (then collective) Municipal Council of Montevideo, Uruguay.
Diorbhail Nic a’ Bhriuthainn
Diorbhail Nic a’ Bhriuthainn was a Scottish Gaelic poet and songwriter who lived on the Isle of Luing in Scotland.
Sheema Kalbasi
Sheema Kalbasi is an Iranian American poet, writer, filmmaker and activist for women’s rights, minorities’ rights, children’s rights, human rights and refugees’ rights. Her work discusses these topics as well as other women’s issues, war, refugees, Sharia Law and freedom of expression. In additon to her artistic work, Sheema taught refugee children and worked for the UNHCR and the Center for Refugees in Pakistan, and UNA Denmark. Her poems have been anthologized and translated into more than 20 languages.
Élisabeth Sophie Chéron
Although Élisabeth-Sophie Chéron is best remembered today as a painter, she was actually a true Renaissance woman, acclaimed during her lifetime as a talented poet, musician, artist, and academicienne. In her childhood, she was trained by her father in the arts of enamelling and miniature painting. Under the sponsorship of the prominent artist Charles Le Brun, she was admitted to the Académie Royale of Paris as a portrait painter in 1672. She exhibited regularly at the Salon in Paris, while also producing poetry and translations; she was fluent in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Chéron’s literary talent was recognized in 1694 when she was named a member of Italy’s Accademia dei Ricovrati in Padua, and given the academician name of Erato, after the muse of lyric and love poetry.
Katherine Mansfield
Kathleen Mansfield Murry was a major modernist writer who wrote as Katherine Mansfield.
Mercedes de Acosta
Mercedes de Acosta was an American poet, playwright, and novelist who wrote almost a dozen plays, only four of which were produced, and she published a novel and three volumes of poetry. She was professionally unsuccessful but is known for her social connections, including her many lesbian relationships with famous Broadway and Hollywood personalities and many friendships with prominent artists of the period.
Ina Coolbrith
Ina Donna Coolbrith was an American poet, writer and librarian, prominent in the San Francisco Bay Area literary community. Called the “Sweet Singer of California”, she was the first California Poet Laureate, as well as the first poet laureate of any U.S. state.
Pat Parker
Pat Parker was an American poet and activist who drew from her experiences as an African-American lesbian feminist. Her poetry spoke to her difficult childhood growing up in poverty, coping with sexual assault, and the murder of her sister.