From the author of the bestselling Reading Women comes Women Who Write, a celebration of female literary achievement. Literature has traditionally been a male-dominated field. In the past it was common for women authors to adopt a male pseudonym in order to be taken seriously, and they were often forced to make a choice between writing and leading a conventional family life. This beautifully produced book brings together a compelling collection of paintings, drawings, prints and photographs of women writers through the ages, from Mary Wollstonecraft, George Sand and Jane Austen to Dorothy Parker, Simone de Beauvoir and Toni Morrison. Engaging commentaries present brief biographies of the writers depicted, discussing the highlights of their careers and the major themes of their work. An incisive introduction explores the history of women authors, examining the challenges they have faced in pursuit of their craft. Women Who Write features a diverse range of women writers from the Middle Ages to the present and is stunningly illustrated throughout, including beautiful reproductions of original manuscript pages.