Celebrating ladies writers from Stanford, then and now

Current years have introduced conversations about objectifying media portrayals of girls, as seen within the coining of the time period “male gaze.” Past this, there may be gender inequality to cope with even throughout the publishing business itself. This 12 months, in honor of Girls’s Historical past Month, we have a good time the laborious achievements of only a few ladies writers who’ve had a previous or current reference to Stanford.

These authors’ works come from genres starting from middle-grade to grownup novels, from romance to fantasy to nonfiction. Although every of them attracts from totally different experiences, we are able to have a good time all of the fantastically numerous tales they’ve to inform and uplift the voices of girls from all walks of life, even past this month.

bell hooks ’73

Activist, scholar and author bell hooks graduated from Stanford in 1973 along with her bachelor’s in English, occurring to earn a number of extra levels and writer educational works on numerous matters. Her writing primarily targeted on Black feminism, sexuality, intersectionality and cultural criticism, with one in every of her most well-known works being “Ain’t I a Girl?: Black Girls and Feminism.” Through the years, hook’s concepts have been very influential each inside and outdoors of educational spheres.

Jesmyn Ward ’99, M.A. ’00

After Jesmyn Ward graduated from Stanford with levels in English and Media Research and Communication, she went on to obtain an M.F.A. in Artistic Writing and later returned to Stanford as a Stegner Fellow from 2008 to 2010. Ward is the writer of three novels — “Salvage the Bones,” “Sing, Unburied, Sing” and “The place the Line Bleeds” — which every narrate the experiences of African-American households within the fictional rural city of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi. Ward has additionally written a memoir and different non-fiction items.

Evelyn Skye ’01

As Evelyn Skye remembers within the acknowledgements for one in every of her novels, she got here into Stanford hardly understanding she’d find yourself graduating with a level in Slavic Languages and Literatures. Her ardour for all issues Russian shines by means of in “The Crown’s Sport” and its sequel, a younger grownup historic fantasy story set in nineteenth-century imperial Russia. Along with this duology, Skye has written or co-written six different works, together with the forthcoming “Damsel,” a feminist darkish fantasy novel and soon-to-be Netflix movie.

Yaa Gyasi ’11

Through the summer time after her sophomore 12 months at Stanford, Yaa Gyasi launched into a visit to Ghana to analysis for a novel she had been planning. The summer time undertaking was even funded by Stanford’s Chappell Lougee grant, which helps sophomores’ initiatives within the humanities, artistic arts and qualitative social sciences. Gyasi’s findings took her in an surprising path, in the end resulting in her acclaimed novel “Homegoing.” Following a number of storylines, it tells of colonial violence and its results on the diasporic expertise, reaching from Ghana to America and spanning over a number of centuries. Gyasi can also be the writer of “Transcendent Kingdom,” a have a look at a distinct facet of the diaspora expertise which chronicles the story of a Ghanaian-American Stanford scholar and her household.

Christina Li ’21

Christina Li is a latest graduate of Stanford in addition to the writer of the middle-grade novels “Clues to the Universe” and the forthcoming “Ruby Misplaced and Discovered.” Her books inform the tales of kids discovering their voices, coping with grief and discovering what household means to them. Moreover, components of Chinese language-American identification and tradition are fantastically interwoven all through her tales. 

Kyla Zhao ’21

Kyla Zhao is one other latest Stanford graduate, who launched her debut novel “The Fraud Squad” simply final month. This story presents a peek into the excessive society of Singapore, Zhao’s residence nation, whereas additionally presenting a critique of elitism. Moreover, her forthcoming center grade novel, “Could the Greatest Participant Win,” shall be launched subsequent 12 months. In addition to her fiction works, Zhao additionally has expertise within the trend writing world, having beforehand written for magazines similar to Vogue Singapore and Harper’s Bazaar.

Grace D. Li M.D. ’23

Balancing her writing profession along with her life as a present scholar at Stanford’s College of Medication, Grace D. Li is the writer of the New York Instances-bestselling heist novel and soon-to-be Netflix sequence “Portrait of a Thief.” The story offers voice to advanced points such because the Chinese language diaspora expertise, grappling with one’s identification and coping with the results of imperialism. Li additionally has a forthcoming novel, “Anatomy of a Betrayal,” which is ready in Stanford and offers with the persecution of Chinese language People on the planet of academia.

Malavika Kannan ’24

Stanford junior Malavika Kannan is the writer of younger grownup novels “The Bookweaver’s Daughter” and the forthcoming “All of the Yellow Suns.” Along with being an writer, she can also be a present scholar of comparative literature and comparative research in race and ethnicity. Kannan’s work explores themes of identification and resilience, particularly drawing from her private experiences as a South Asian queer girl.

Editor’s Observe: This text is a overview and contains subjective ideas, opinions and critiques.