Early Women SciFi Writers
Though male authors generally dominated SFF, particularly in the first half of 20th century, there were still several significant and influential female authors publishing in science fiction even in its earliest days. In fact, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) is often identified as the first science fiction novel; Mary Cavendish's Blazing World (1666), which influenced writers like Alan Moore and China Mieville, could also be called the first work of science fiction.
Some notable early, influential women of science fiction whose works we hold in our collections (click any name to see the UNB catalogue holdings)
- Gertrude Barrows Bennet (Francis Stevens) (1884-1948)
- Miriam Allen DeFord (1888-1975)
- Wilmar Shiras (1908-1990)
- C.L. Moore (1911-1987)
- Andre Norton (1912-2005)
- Leigh Brackett (1915-1978)
- Zenna Henderson (1917-1983)
- Judith Merril (1923-1997)
- Katherine MacLean (1925-2019)
- Ursula K. LeGuin (1929-2018)
- Octavia Butler (1947-2006)
The works featured on this page are either standalone texts written by women, or serials including at least one work by a woman.
If you think an important early female author is missing from this list, please get in touch and make a suggestion!
