It’s March which means one thing: it’s finally Women’s History Month! And what better way to celebrate than to pick up some incredible books written by some extremely talented women? As a chronic book lover, here are some female authors I think you should add to your bookshelves and to-be-read lists this month.
R.F. Kuang
I can’t talk about women authors without bringing up R.F Kuang. I read her debut novel The Poppy War a few years ago in the height of the fantasy genre craze and Kuang’s unique writing style brimming with detail immediately caught my eye. I was also insanely impressed that she started writing The Poppy War at 19 and got it published while still in college. She’s outrageously smart, a characteristic you can tell in every line of her writing, and with a Master’s of Philosophy in Chinese Studies from Cambridge, a Master’s in Science in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford, and currently pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale it’s safe to say that her academic background and intelligence heavily shines through in her works.
Her writing addresses a range of issues and social critiques through the lenses of fictional situations rooted in very historical contexts such as The Poppy War trilogy, which is inspired by 20th century Chinese history and Babel being set in 1830’s London during the industrial revolution as a criticism of British imperialism. I once told someone that reading her books felt like reading a textbook in the best possible way because they’re all packed with knowledge and make me feel smarter just by reading them. Her newest novel, Katabasis, is inspired by Dante’s Inferno and centers around grad students going to hell to rescue their advisor. It’s currently sitting on my desk and I can’t wait to read it.
Leigh Bardugo
Of course I have to bring up the author who’s written some of my favorite female characters in literary history. Leigh Bardugo’s fantasy series Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows dominated the YA fantasy genre when they first came out and attracted quite a bit of popularity during the 2020-2022 booktok era. In a way I’ve grown up with her writing, from obsessing over her young adult fantasy series in middle school to eagerly buying and reading the first two books of her adult fantasy series Ninth House throughout high school. The final installment of that series drops this summer and it’s special that her books have accompanied me throughout so many different periods of my life.
One of the things that stands out most about her writing is her characters. All of them, but specifically her female characters, are so well written and embody strength and resilience in a variety of different ways. Olympic figure skater Isabeu Levito once cited her character Inej Ghafa as her inspiration while skating which goes to show the impact of her characters. If I were to recommend a book, I would highly recommend checking out Ninth House. The unique plot about occult activities within Yale’s secret societies and the themes regarding who has access to power and privilege, navigating trauma, and moral ambiguity make it an incredible read.
Erin Morgenstern
If anyone were to ask what my favorite book of all time was, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern would be my immediate answer. Although she only has two novels published, she’s cemented herself as one of my favorite authors of all time and both The Night Circus and her second novel The Starless Sea are both very high up on my list of favorite novels. Her writing is so uniquely gorgeous that I feel the need to promote it to practically every person who asks for book recommendations. Every page she writes feels dreamlike, and her prose is absolutely stunning. Both of her books are love letters to magic, fantasy, and the stories that shape the world we live in, and I would highly recommend them to anyone who wants to pick up a book and escape reality.
Sabaa Tahir
Another female author to check out is Sabaa Tahir, an extremely underrated fantasy writer and also past UCLA graduate (go bruins!) which makes her even cooler in my opinion. I read her four book fantasy series An Ember in the Ashes all in one summer and even though it’s been over four years since I read it, it’s still stuck in my mind. Her world-building, deeply complex characters, and subtle romance throughout the series makes the series impossible to put down. The female leads throughout the novels all exhibit strength and personal agency in a variety of different ways that makes the story so much more compelling. Honestly, writing this article made me excited to reread the series.
Aside from An Ember in the Ashes and Heir, its spin-off duology, her New York Times and Indie bestselling contemporary novel All My Rage also received critical acclaim and praise as a deeply beautiful story. It tells the story of two different generations within a family, the cost of the American dream, and two high school students struggling to balance their dreams within their suffocating hometown. Although I haven’t yet read it, I can’t wait to check it out and I know it’s sure to be good.
Taylor Jenkins Reid
She’s already a pretty popular author, but it’s for a good reason. Famous for her novels such as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones and the Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid has cemented herself as one of the most popular recent contemporary fiction authors.
She’s another perfect example of how to write complex female characters, which is shown through her “famous women’s quartet” centered around four prominent women in Los Angeles: Evelyn Hugo a famous Hollywood star, Daisy Jones a lead singer in a popular band in the 70s, Nina Riva a supermodel and surfer from a famous family, and Carrie Soto a renowned tennis player. These four novels, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones and the Six, Malibu Rising, and Carrie Soto is Back, can all be read as stand alone novels, but are written within the same universe with recurring characters, cameos, and easter eggs for readers.
A good number of Reid’s books have been adapted for television as well, such as One True Love having a 2023 movie adaptation, Daisy Jones and the Six being turned into a Prime Video mini series in 2023, a Netflix adaptation of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo being currently in the works, Forever Interrupted in development for a Netflix series, Malibu Rising in development for a Hulu miniseries, Carrie Soto is Back being adapted for a Netflix series with Serena Williams as an executive producer, and her latest novel Atmosphere being adapted into a film by Laika Studios. It’s pretty incredible to see one of an author’s books adapted for the screen, so having seven is pretty impressive.
If I were to recommend a single one of her books to check out it would 100% be Daisy Jones and the Six. The drama, fantastic characters, and interview narrative style make it impossible to put down, and the Prime Video miniseries that came out a few years ago is equally as good and has an incredible soundtrack.