5 Short Literary Reads To Keep The Women’s History Month Energy Going

Because Being a Feminist Is a Year-Round Gig

By: Jessica Nguyen

Photo credit: Unsplash

In honor of Women’s History Month coming to a close, here are 5 short literary pieces relating to themes such as love, mental illness, racial injustice, and introspection written by women, so we can keep on learning from and supporting women year-round.

Ranging from 117 words to 226 pages, this list will feature literary works that are perfect for anyone with any schedule.

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why by Edna St. Vincent Millay

A 117-word poem about the tragic beauty of lost love. A woman recounts the “ghosts” of her loved ones one frightful night. Filled with metaphors of a barren tree and ghosts, this poem has become a staple piece in the poetry community. The sonnet’s use of timely words shows how Millay’s perception of love is forever evolving: “tonight,” “morning,” and “midnight.” The poem seeks to interpret love as this complex relationship between paying homage to past lovers and distinguishing “ghosts” of those lovers who can no longer haunt/harm you as you continue your journey.

Was Shakesphere a Woman? by Elizabeth Winkler

Winkler’s 11-page (5,545 word) controversial piece on The Atlantic further analyzes the question, “Who was Shakespeare?” How can a man, formerly known as illiterate by his peers, become one of the most intrinsic playwrights of the literary world we know it as today? With personal anecdotes detailing her journey to answering this question, Winkler creates a compelling case for Emilia Basson, Shakespeare’s possible ghost-writer.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

A 35-page psychological thriller that centers around a woman who becomes fixated on the ugly yellow wallpaper in her room during a summer retreat with her family. When forced to get over a case of depression and mania by isolating herself in a bedroom, she starts to see the yellow wallpaper taking on a life of its own. This story is a revolutionary feminist piece from the late 18th century that sheds light on the stigma surrounding women with mental illnesses. For any Coraline fans out there, this is a story that surely plays on the concept of a “living house” well.

“A Sketch of the Past” from Moments of Being by Virginia Woolf

Among the collection of autobiographical essays written by Virginia Woolf, A Sketch of the Past is one of the many excerpts that reveal the introspection that Woolf has been able to cultivate from her 60 years of stored memories into a 100-page format. She ponders her days lived which are filled with “being” and “non-being” memories, and contemplates how her mind determines which memories she will remember when she grows old. My favorite stream-of-consciousness (or tangent) rabbit hole that Woolf escapes into is when she interprets her fear of looking in the mirror as one that is deeply rooted in “ancestral dread,” which “proves that Virginia Stephen was not born on the 25th January 1882, but was born many thousands of years ago.”

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

As the woman who was quoted as being “the last classic writer… in the tradition of Poe, Melville, Twain, and Faulkner” by Newsweek, Toni Morrison’s 224-page novel The Bluest Eye has been a staple within the contemporary literary community and has even inspired other authors such as John Green to pursue their own writing careers. The Bluest Eye centers around Pecola, an African-American girl who desires blue eyes, and is inspired by a childhood friend of Morrison’s. Captured at the tender age of eleven years old, Pecola allows readers to understand the complexity of racism being taught to a young girl and provides a glimpse upon a lesson that one may not ever learn within one’s own lifetime. Toni Morrison’s style of writing, streams of consciousness, timeline-jumping, and purposeful syntax make for a perplexing and engulfing read that will stick with readers long after finishing the book.

While all readers can enjoy reading a feel-good series like To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before from Jenny Han or a stand-alone book like Eleanor and Park from Rainbow Rowell, this list argues against the stereotype that female writers purely adhere to YA romance or “chick-lit” genres. From this list, it is clear that women are just as capable as men of contributing works into the academic literary world.

For literary writers reading this, here are 3 fellowship/grants available to apply for:

https://www.writerscolony.org/fellowships Moondancer Fellowship, Deadline for works is May 30, 2021

https://www.higheredjobs.com/details.cfm?JobCode=177436920 Wisconsin Library Poet Residence

https://schumanities.org/grants/howtoapply/#fasttrackliterarygrants SC Humanities Fast Track Grant, Deadlines for works are June 1 and September 1, 2021