10 Badass Women of Literature – Part 2

Get to know more badass women of literature in this second installment of the Xlibris Author Advice.

6. Anaïs Nin (1903-1977)

She is best known as one of the pioneer women writers of the female erotica genre. The French-Cuban diarist, whose journals detailed her own erotic adventures, self-published her first book Under a Glass Bell. The book, hailed as Nin’s finest work, launched her literary success.

7. Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986)

Recognized as the mother of French feminism, she lived life on her own terms and set free from many of life’s conventions, including marriage and religion. Her philosophy coincided with that of French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre’s that led to a deep philosophical and romantic connection. The two were both in an open relationship and said to have shared girlfriends at times.

8. Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)

Her no-holds-barred revelations about herself are reflected in her poems in The Bell Jar that helped her embrace her individuality and “weirdness.” She was so smitten with her husband Ted Hughes that when she first met him, she bit his cheek until it bled.

9. Kathy Acker (1947-1997)

Despite succumbing to breast cancer in 1997, she lives on through her 1984 postmodernist novel Blood and Guts in High School and has managed to have a cult following. Her work is among the inspirations behind the underground feminist hardcore punk movement Riot grrrl, founded in the early 1990s in the US state of Washington. Her novel also raised controversy due to plagiarism and taboo subjects, such as incest, pornography, and abortion.

10. Alice Walker (b. 1944)

Her badassery may be subtle compared to the others in the list, but she is still one badass author regardless. She has exhibited bravado in her writing, as her most renowned book The Color Purple drew ire among censors for raising awareness on racism and oppression of underprivileged black women. She is also an activist who has fought for her interracial marriage and endured harassment by antiblack whites and the white supremacist group Ku Klux Klan.

Read the first installment of this Xlibris Author Advice here. Visit the Xlibris Blog, the Xlibris Indie Authors Roundup, and the Xlibris Writer’s Workshop for free self-publishing tips.