256 pages |Hardcover

InWhy She Wrote, dive into the fascinating, unexpected, and inspiring stories behind the greatest women writers in the English language.

This compelling graphic collection features 18 womenincluding Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, Alice Dunbar Nelson, Anne Lister, and moreand asks a simple question: in a time when being a woman writer often meant being undervalued, overlooked, or pigeonholed, why did she write?

Why did Jane Austen struggle to write for five years before her first novel was ever published? How did Edith Maude Eaton’s writing change the narrative around Chinese immigrant workers in North America? Why did the Bront sisters choose to write under male pennames, and Anne Lister write her personal diaries in code?

Learn about women writers from the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, from familiar favorites to those who have undeservedly fallen into obscurity, and their often untold histories, including:

The forgotten mother of the gothic genre
The unexpected success ofLittle Women
The diaries of the “first modern lesbian”
The lawsuit to protectLittle Lord Fauntleroy
The personal account of a mastectomy in 1811
Austen’s struggles with writer’s block
And much, much more!