Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke (April 17, 1885 – September 7, 1962), née Dinesen, was a Danish author also known by her pen name Isak Dinesen. Blixen wrote works both in Danish and in English; but is best known for Out of Africa, her account of living in Kenya, and for her story, Babette's Feast, both of which were adapted into highly acclaimed motion pictures. Dinesen's short story writing was influenced by the Bible, the stories of the Arabian nights, Aesop's Fables, the works of Homer, and the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen, her fellow countryman. - New World Encyclopedia
Gloria Jean Watkins (born September 25, 1952), better known by her pen name Bell Hooks, is an American author, feminist, and social activist. The focus of hooks' writing has been the intersectionality of race, capitalism, and gender, and what she describes as their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and class domination. She has published over 30 books and numerous scholarly articles, appeared in documentary films, and participated in public lectures. She has addressed race, class, and gender in education, art, history, sexuality, mass media, and feminism. - Bell Hooks Wikipedia
Simone de Beauvoir was born in Paris, France, in 1908. When she was 21, De Beauvoir met Jean-Paul Sartre, forming a partnership and romance that would shape both of their lives and philosophical beliefs. De Beauvoir published countless works of fiction and nonfiction during her lengthy career—often with existentialist themes—including 1949’s The Second Sex, which is considered a pioneering work of the modern feminism movement. - Simone de Beauvoir Biography
Marilyn French (November 21, 1929 – May 2, 2009) was a radical feminist American author. In her youth, she was a young journalist, writing a neighborhood newsletter. She played the piano and dreamed of becoming a composer. She received a bachelor's degree from Hofstra University (then Hofstra College) in 1951, in philosophy and English literature. In 1972, she earned her Ph.D from Harvard University. - Marilyn French Wikipedia
English author Virginia Woolf wrote modernist classics including 'Mrs. Dalloway' and 'To the Lighthouse,' as well as pioneering feminist texts, 'A Room of One's Own' and 'Three Guineas.' Woolf became one of the central subjects of the 1970s movement of feminist criticism, and her works have since garnered much attention and widespread commentary for "inspiring feminism", an aspect of her writing that was unheralded earlier.- Virginia Woolf Biography