Biblio File

39 Women Journalists Whom We Admire by Gwen Glazer, CommunicationsApril 8, 2016

Women Journalists

Author Gay Talese stirred the ire of the Internet on Saturday when he reportedly said at a Boston writing conference that he couldn't name a single woman writer who inspired him and influenced his work as a journalist.

(There's been plenty of parsing his exact words, plus a clarification; Talese did eventually tell a Boston Globe reporter several women novelists he read as a child and women journalists he now admires.)

Readers and writers all over the globe, including Neil Gaiman, responded en masse.

We wanted to add a few more: women journalists, historic and current, all tremendously accomplished. It's a long list, and there's a lot more where it came from.

Add your favorites in the comments below!

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Comments

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Women writer

Submitted by Theresa (not verified) on April 8, 2016 - 7:36pm

Anne Fadiman: Her book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down changed the way we view medical treatment and medical education!

Women writer

Submitted by Theresa (not verified) on April 8, 2016 - 7:36pm

Anne Fadiman: Her book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down changed the way we view medical treatment and medical education!

Women authors

Submitted by Dianna Jarnet (not verified) on April 9, 2016 - 8:32am

Margaret Atwood Isabel Allende Donna Tartt Anais Ninn

women journalist

Submitted by nebout france (not verified) on April 9, 2016 - 2:17pm

Please add Claude GUIBAL journalist at Radio France, Paris and covering the world. A book out on her decade long covering of the Middle-East and entitled "ISLAMISTAN".

thanks

Submitted by Gwen Glazer on April 11, 2016 - 2:28pm

Thank you for your suggestion! This list in the comments is serving as the update... it's great to see everyone's additional ideas.

Women journalists we admire

Submitted by Jack El-Hai (not verified) on April 10, 2016 - 1:03am

Two remarkable journalists not on your list are Jessica Mitford and Janet Malcolm.

Gay Talese

Submitted by Bill Dedman (not verified) on April 10, 2016 - 12:34pm

The introduction to this article is false. Gay Talese didn't say there were no women writers he loved. He said, instead, that there were no women writers of nonfiction who influenced him when he was starting out. This is not "parsing." Adding a paragraph about "parsing" and clarifications does nothing to fix the error in your previous paragraph.

updated!

Submitted by Gwen Glazer on April 11, 2016 - 2:22pm

Thank you for your comment -- I changed the phrasing of that paragraph.

Women Writers

Submitted by Lynne S. Mazza (not verified) on April 19, 2016 - 5:12pm

Too many to list, but several come to mind.... Susan Sontag Jeanette Winterson Muriel Spark Mary Beard Willa Cather Patricia Highsmith A.S. Byatt Jhumpa Lahiri I could go on....

Women Writers

Submitted by Lynne S. Mazza (not verified) on April 19, 2016 - 5:12pm

Too many to list, but several come to mind.... Susan Sontag Jeanette Winterson Muriel Spark Mary Beard Willa Cather Patricia Highsmith A.S. Byatt Jhumpa Lahiri I could go on....

another journalist to add

Submitted by Katharine (not verified) on August 7, 2017 - 7:30pm

We awarded Lynsey Addario the Wisconsin Library Association Literary Award for her work It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War last year, OUTSTANDING memoir about her work as a photojournalist. It would be a great addition to your list.

more journalists

Submitted by Megan (not verified) on August 9, 2017 - 11:43am

Oh my gosh so many: Emily Bazelon, Nikkole Hannah-Jones, Audie Cornish, Susan Hennessey, Tamara Cofman Wittes, Quinta Jurecic, Masha Gessen, Maggie Haberman, Sherrilyn Ifill, Asha Rangapa, Julia Ioffe, Shana Gadarian, Julie Rovner, Rakmini Callimachi, Valerie Strauss, April Ryan, Molly Ball, Margaret Sullivan, Connie Shulz, Ana Navarro...and I didn't even include podcasters!