 You’ve probably heard of these five female authors. They pave the way for other female authors and writers such as myself and inspire us each and every day. I compiled a list of my top five female authors that motivate me to write and broaden my horizons every day. So here we go, in no particular order: Suzanne Collins Collins was born on August 10th, 1962 in Hartford, Connecticut. “Little Suzanne” was the youngest of four children, was the daughter of an Air Force officer and thus moved to several cool places in her childhood, including Brussels and New York City. Collins’s professional career started in 1991, writing for children’s TV. She worked on Emmy-nominated Nickelodeon show Clarissa Explains it All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. Collins was thinking about Alice and Wonderland one day, her biography states, and “was struck by how pastoral the setting must seem to kids who, like her own, lived in urban surroundings. In New York City, you're much more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole and, if you do, you're not going to find a tea party. What you might find...?” That was the start of her five-part fantasy/war series, The Underland Chronicles. The series has been sold into 21 foreign countries. Doesn’t everybody love an underdog? Katniss Everdeen, the winner of the 74th Hunger Games and the Mockingjay of the Rebellion was created by author Suzanne Collins. Her Hunger Games trilogy (The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay) has spent over 6 years on the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated into 51 languages. Lionsgate released a four-part film adaptation of her series, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth. In September 2013, Suzanne released a critically acclaimed autobiographical picture book, Year of the Jungle. It has been sold into 12 territories in 11 languages. Her first picture book, When Charlie McButton Lost Power, is about a boy obsessed with computer games, came out in 2005. It has been sold into 4 foreign territories. Here’s the link to Collin’s website. “It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together again as it does to fall apart.” -The Suzanne Collins Stephenie Meyer Stephenie Meyer was born December 24, 1973, in Hartford, Connecticut! (In case you weren’t sure, Suzanne Collins was also born there) She was the oldest of six kids. I feel your pain, eldest sister. Vampires. Romance. Twilight. The four-book series, Twilight, has sold over 100 copies globally in over 50 countries. Her series follows Bella Swan and her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen. The first book, Twilight, was released in 2005. The other three were released a year apart; second book New Moon in 2006, third novel Eclipse (2007) and last book Breaking Dawn in 2008. Meyer was the top-selling author in 2008 and 2009 in the United States, selling over 29 million books in 2008 and 26.5 million in 2009. Her biography says, “USA Today declared Meyer ‘Author of the Year,’ citing that she had done something that no one else had in the 15 years of the USA Today bestselling book list– she swept the top four slots in 2008. Meyer also accomplished this feat in 2009, when The Twilight Saga once again dominated the top of the bestseller list. All together, her books have spent over 303 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.” Mind. Boggling. Meyer’s romance novel The Host was also released in 2008 and debuted at #1 on The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Her Twilight series was made into a set of 5 movies featuring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, and her novel The Host was released in 2013 starring Saoirse Ronan. You can visit her website here. “I like the night. Without the dark, we'd never see the stars.” -Stephenie Meyer J.K. Rowling We’ve all heard of this famous name. Joanne Kathleen Rowling, the creator of the world-famous Harry Potter world. J.K. Rowling was born on July 31, 1965, in Yate, United Kingdom. She had a younger sister, Dianne Rowling. Rowling had the ambition to be a writer from a young age and tried to write several stories. However, nothing came of her earliest efforts. Her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when Rowling was a teenager and died in 1990. After college, Rowling moved to London and worked several jobs, including one job as a researcher at Amnesty International. As the famous story goes, J.K. Rowling was sitting on a delayed train in 1990 when she first thought of the idea for Harry Potter. Her website’s biography writes, “Over the next five years, she began to map out all seven books of the series. She wrote mostly in longhand and gradually built up a mass of notes, many of which were scribbled on odd scraps of paper.” She took her notes with her and moved to northern Portugal, marrying Jorge Arantes and had a daughter, Jessica. She divorced Arantes a few years later. Her first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (US edition Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone) Her other six books, chronicling Harry’s magical life as a wizard (Ha-Ha, see what I did there?), achieved record-breaking success. J.K. Rowling is currently the wealthiest female author in the world. The eight-movie collection starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint. You can visit her official website, https://www.jkrowling.com/ “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” -J.K. Rowling Angie Thomas Angie Thomas was born in 1988 in Jackson, Mississippi. As a kid, she was a teen rapper and her greatest accomplishment as a child was to have an article published about her in the Right On! Magazine. She graduated from Belhaven University and was the first black student to graduate with a BFA in creative writing. While Thomas was in college, she heard about the shooting of Oscar Grant of the news, which combined with other shootings, was the inspiration for her debut novel The Hate U Give. The Hate U Give was originally a short story. The novel debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list within a week of its release. Her second book, On The Come Up, is about a teen rapper who becomes a viral sensation and has connections to the Hate U Give, so I recommend reading Thomas’s first novel first before reading On The Come Up. Angie Thomas’s official website writes in her biography, “Her award-winning, acclaimed debut novel, The Hate U Give, is a #1 New York Times bestseller and major motion picture from Fox 2000, starring Amandla Stenberg and directed by George Tillman, Jr.” You can visit Thomas’s super-duper awesome website right here. Yes, golden Oreos are superior. You’re welcome. (Check the FAQ’s if you have no idea what I’m talking about) “What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?” -Angie Thomas Laura Hillenbrand It’s OK if you don’t know who this is. You’re about to know all about her! Laura Hillenbrand was born on May 15, 1967, in Fairfax, Virginia. She was the youngest of four children. Her favorite childhood book was Come On Seabiscuit. She went to college at Kenyon College but was forced to drop out after she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, which she has struggled with ever since. Hillenbrand rarely left her house in Washington, DC until late 2015, where she made a long and dangerous trip (because of her chronic fatigue syndrome) to Oregon and has lived there ever since. Hillenbrand’s debut biography, Seabiscuit: An American Legend, was released in 2001. The book about the racehorse Seabiscuit won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 2001. Hillenbrand’s second book, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption was released in 2010, a biography of Olympic runner and war hero Louis Zamperini. Her two books have sold over 13 million copies. Both of her books have been made into movies; Seabiscuit in 2003 and Unbroken in 2014. Hillenbrand founded Operation International Children, a charity that provided supplies to needy children through American troops with American actor Gary Sinise. You can visit her website here. “Without dignity, identity is erased. In its absence, men are defined not by themselves, but by their captors and the circumstances in which they are forced to live.” -Laura Hillenbrand Story by Caroline Barton Comments are closed.
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