Writer Archives - Page 126 of 129

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.

Ofelia Domínguez Navarro

Ofelia Domínguez Navarro was a Cuban writer, teacher, lawyer, feminist and activist who fought for the rights of women and illegitimate children.

Una Vincenzo

Perhaps best known as the the long-time lesbian partner of Marguerite Radclyffe Hall, author of The Well of Loneliness, sculptor and translator Una Troubridge was an educated woman with achievements in her own right. She was a successful translator and the first to translate the works of French writer Colette for English readers. Her talent as a sculptor led the renowned ballet dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky to sit for her several times. She and Radclyffe Hall were also known for being interested in spiritualism, and hosting seances.

Ann Hui

Ann Hui On-wah, BBS MBE is a Hong Kong film director, producer, screenwriter and actress and one of the Hong Kong New Wave’s most critically acclaimed filmmakers. She is best known for her films about Hong Kong social issues in Hong Kong, with films ranging from literary adaptation, martial arts masterpieces and thrillers to topics of semi-autobiographical works, female issues, social phenomena, and political changes. She served as president of the Hong Kong Film Director’s Guild from 2004 to 2006.
Hui has won many awards for her films, including three Golden Horse Awards (GHA) for Best Director (1999, 2011, 2014); Best Film at the Asia Pacific Film Festival; and Best Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards six times (1983, 1996, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2018).
Only two films have ever earned a Grand Slam (winning best picture, best director, best screenplay, best actor, and best actress) at the Hong Kong Film Awards: Summer Snow and A Simple Life, both of which were directed by Ann Hui. She was honored for her lifetime accomplishments at the 2012 Asian Film Awards, and in 2017, the US’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) invited Hui to become a member.

Aasta Hansteen

In her younger days, Norwegian feminist Aasta Hansteen earned her living as a portrait painter in Kristiania (modern-day Oslo)’ she was in demand as the city’s only portrait artist. Her most famous painting is possibly her portrait of her father, which is on permanent exhibit at the National Gallery of Norway. Associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting, she exhibited her work at the 1855 World’s Fair in Paris. Well known in the Oslo’s intellectual circles, Hansteen inspired characters in dramas by Ibsen and Gunnar Heiberg. Her writings advocating for the rights of women, her opposition to religious authority, and her provocative behavior—she often appeared fpr public speaking engagements wearing men’s boots and brandishing a whip in a symbolic performance of the oppressor—led to such harassment that in 1880 she emigrated to the United States. Together with her foster daughter Theodora Nielsen, she sailed from Christiania on April 9, 1880. In Boston, she met leading feminists of the day, including Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe and Mary Livermore, and was deeply affected by the relative freedom of women in America. By 1889, when she returned to Norway, the feminist movement there was firmly established, and Hansteen was embraced as one of its pioneers. In 1889, she returned to Norway, joined the Norwegian Association for Women’s Rights (Norsk Kvinnesaksforening) and became an active contributor in the press on women’s rights
She also studied linguistics, with an interest in Norwegian dialects. In 1862 she published anonymously a small book written in Nynorsk, becoming the first woman to publish in the language.

Thérèse de Dillmont

In 1884 needleworker Thérèse de Dillmont left the embroidery school that she had started with her sister Franziska and moved to France, where she wrote her Encyclopedia of Needlework (1886) The book, which has since been translated into 17 languages, pulled together thousands of textile designs from many countries including Egypt, Bulgaria, Turkey and China. She later owned several shops in European capitals and was considered “one of the most important pioneers in the international and multicultural enterprise of hobby needlework in the late nineteenth century”.

Teréz Karacs

Teréz Karacs was a writer, educator, memoirist and women’s rights activist. She was a leader of Hungary’s early feminist movement, as well as the general social reform movement, and a famous literary writer of contemporary Hungary. A pioneer of women’s education, she founded the Zrínyi Ilona Grammar School in the northeastern Hungary.

Kartini

Kartini was an Indonesian national hero, a pioneer in the area of education for girls and women’s rights for Indonesians. Her birthday is celebrated as Kartini Day in Indonesia.
Born into an aristocratic Javanese family in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), she attended a Dutch-language primary school. She aspired to further education but there was no opportunity available to girls in Javanese society.
Kartini wrote letters about her ideas and feelings, and they were published in a Dutch magazine and later as Out of Darkness to Light, Women’s Life in the Village, and Letters of a Javanese Princess. Although she died at only 25, her advocacy for the education of girls was continued by her sisters. Kartini Schools in Bogor, Jakarta, and Malang were named for her and a fund established in her name to support the education of girls.

Andrea Villarreal

Andrea Villarreal was a teacher, poet, feminist, labor organizer, and revolutionary. Along with her sister Teresa, Andrea published the feminist newspaper La Mujer Moderna (The Modern Woman, 1910) supporting the liberal-radical activities of the Partido Liberal Mexicano (opposing the Mexican dictatorship of President Porfirio Díaz (1876–1911)) in San Antonio and the Mexican Revolution (1910–17). She publicly opposed the imprisonment of Mexican men during the Revolution and was referred to by members of the press as the Mexican Joan of Arc.

Aparna Nancherla

Aparna Nancherla is an American comedian and actor who has appeared on Inside Amy Schumer and has written for Late Night with Seth Meyers and Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell. Nancherla released her debut comedy album Just Putting It Out There through Tig Notaro’s Bentzen Ball Records on July 8, 2016. Her credits also include several web series, such as Your Main Thing with John Early. She co-created and starred in Womanhood, a satirical advice series with comedian Jo Firestone.
In 2019 Aparna was featured in Laughing Matters, a-30 minute YouTube documentary, in which various comedians discuss mental health.