Great Women Rulers of Literature

12" Wooden Ruler made in U.S.A. of American-grown basswood. The contribution made by women to World Literature is huge, important and remarkable. It also started very early, going back over 4000 years. The first writer on our list is the poet Sappho (c. 600 BC), who lived on the Greek island of Lesbos. We have included writers of poetry and prose, from Mary Shelley (1797-1851), who dreamt up the monster created by Doctor Frankenstein when she was only 18 to Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), who gave us the charming and unforgettable stories of Squirrel Nutkin, Mr. McGregor and Peter Rabbit, the success of which helped her to preserve much of England's Lake District. Four of the writers on our list are African-American: Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784), Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), Maya Angelou (1928-2014) and Toni Morrison (1931-2019). The "head" image is of Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), who wrote nearly 1,800 poems, of which fewer than a dozen were published during her lifetime.