Women.Memoirists

1730s

Jane Frazier [or Fraser] (01 jan 1735 – 14 apr 1815 | Winchester VA – Schellsburg PA) survivor, memoirist, captured / escaped Native Americans


1740s


1750s


1760s

Deborah Sampson Gannett (17 dec 1760 – 29 apr 1827 | Plympton MA – Sharon MA) diarist, memoirist, political activist, Continental soldier

Mary Lewis Kinnan (22 aug 1763 – 12 mar 1848 | Basking Ridge NJ – Basking Ridge NJ) pioneer, survivor, memoirist, Shawnee captive, sold to Delaware natives, rescued after three years’ captivity 

Dolley Payne Todd Madison (20 may 1768 – 12 jul 1849 | North Carolina Province, British America – Washington DC) US Presidential First Lady, memoirist, letter correspondent


1770s

Johanna Graham Bethune (01 feb 1770 – 28 jul 1860 | Fort Niagara ON – New York NY) author, memoirist, social activist, leader in Sunday school education movement, founded Orphan Asylum Society and Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Children

Leonora Sansay (11 dec 1773 – 12 nov 1821 | Philadelphia PA – Newent UK) novelist, painter, memoirist, political / literary figure, aka Mary Hassal, born Honora Davern, artificial flower-making business owner

Elizabeth Ann Seton (28 aug 1774 – 04 jan 1821 | New York NY – Emmitsburg MD) widow, mother, memoirist, sainted religious, Sisters of Charity founder


1780s

Jarena Lee (11 feb 1783 – 1855 | Cape May NJ – New Jersey US) memoirist, religious writer, autobiographical author, pioneering female traveling African Methodist Episcopal (AME) minister

Elleanor Eldridge (27 mar 1784 – c.1845 | Warwick RI – unknown) memoirist, landlord, property owner, pioneering African-American entrepreneur


1790s

Harriet Atwood Newell (10 oct 1793 – 30 nov 1812 | Haverhill MA – Port Louis MUS) memoirist, first wave US Christian missionary to India, Burma, and Mauritius

Frances Manwaring Caulkins (26 apr 1795 – 03 feb 1869 | New London CT – New London CT) writer, memoirist, historian

Lucy Goodale Thurston (29 oct 1795 – 13 oct 1876 | Marlborough MA – Honolulu HI) teacher, memoirist, letter correspondent, first Christian missionary wife in Hawaii


1800s

Sarah Anne Worthington King Peter (10 may 1800 – 06 feb 1877 | Chillicothe OH – Cincinnati OH) artist, memoirist, patron of arts, philanthropist, Civil War Union nurse, Catholic convert / activist, founded Philadelphia School of Design for Women [now Moore College of Art & Design]

Eunice Hale Waite Cobb (27 jan 1803 – 02 may 1880 | Kennebunk ME – East Boston MA) author, activist, memoirist, public speaker

Eliza Grew Jones (30 mar 1803 – 28 mar 1838 | Providence RI – Bangkok TH) memoirist, Biblical historian, American Baptist missionary to Burma and Siam, created first Siamese-English dictionary, invented Romanized script for writing Siamese language

Susanna Strickland Moodie (06 dec 1803 – 08 apr 1885 | Bungay UK – Toronto ON) English-Canadian poet, artist, novelist, memoirist, children’s author

Harriot Kezia Hunt (09 nov 1805 – 02 jan 1875 | Boston MA – Boston MA) memoirist, women’s right activist, pioneer female physician, first female to apply [and be denied] to Harvard Medical School

Juliette Augusta Magill Kinzie (11 sep 1806 – 15 sep 1870 | Middletown CT – Amagansett NY) author, memoirist, Middle Western pioneer and historian

Mary Ann White Johnson (24 aug 1808 – 05 may 1872 | Westmoreland NH – New York NY) abolitionist, lecturer on physiology, matron of Sing Sing Prison, prison reform advocate, founding member of New England Non-Resistance Society 

Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee (01 oct 1808 – 05 nov 1873 | Arlington VA – Lexington VA) editor, memoirist, Confederate Civil War family figure


1810s

Octavia Walton Le Vert (11 aug 1811 – 12 mar 1877 | Augusta GA – Augusta GA) author, socialite, social activist, memoirist, travel writer

Harriet Ann Jacobs (11 feb 1813 – 07 mar 1897 | Edenton NC – Washington DC) memoirist, abolitionist, speaker, reformer, escaped slave, African-American

Anne Charlotte Lynch Botta  (11 nov 1815 – 23 mar 1891 | Bennington VT – New York NY) poet, critic, writer, teacher, socialite, literary circle figure, Barnard College co-founder, posthumous memoirist

Fidelia Fiske (01 may 1816 – 26 jul 1864 | Shelburne MA – Shelburne MA) memoirist, religious missionary, women’s educational activist, Mount Holyoke Seminary college teacher, founder / first principal of Nestorian Female Seminary in Persia [Iran]

Maria Monk (27 jun 1816 – 08 sep 1849 | Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu QC – Roosevelt Island NY) author, memoirist, religious sister, controversial Canadian folk figure, alleged infanticide / systemic sexual abuse in Catholic convent

Catherine Troutman Simmons Broshears Maynard (19 jul 1816 – 20 oct 1906 | Meade County KY – Seattle WA) folk figure, pioneer, memoirist, social activist, Seattle WA co-founder

Amelia Stewart Knight (01 jan 1817 – 25 jan 1898 | Boston MA – Vancouver WA) diarist, memoirist, Northwest Oregon Trail pioneer / settler

Emily Chubbuck Judson (22 0r 23 aug 1817 – 01 jun 1854 | Eaton NY – Hamilton NY) poet, writer, memoirist, missionary, aka Fanny Forester 

Henrietta Hall Shuck (28 oct 1817 – 27 nov 1844 | Kilmarnock VA – Hong Kong HK) memoirist, letter correspondent, founded co-ed boarding school, Chinese girls’ education advocate, first female Baptist missionary to China, first Western female to live in Hong Kong

Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (c. 01 feb 1818 – c. 01 may 1907 | Dinwiddie County Court House VA – Washington DC) former slave, memoirist, First Lady’s seamstress, businesswoman

Elizabeth Van Lew (15 oct 1818 – 25 sep 1900 | Richmond VA – Richmond VA) diarist, memoirist, aka Crazy Bet, Civil War Union spy / ring leader, post-War postmistress

Elizabeth Payson Prentiss (26 oct 1818 – 13 aug 1878 | Portland ME – Dorset VT) author, hymnist, educator, memoirist

Sarah Eleanor Bayliss Royce (02 mar 1819 – 23 nov 1891 | Stratford-upon-Avon UK – Santa Rosa CA) diarist, author, pioneer, memoirist

Louise Amelia Knapp Clappe Smith (28 jul 1819 – 09 feb 1906 | Elizabeth NJ – Morristown NJ) author, memoirist, schoolteacher, letter correspondent, pen name: Dame Shirley

Ann Eliza Brainerd Smith (07 oct 1819 – 06 jan 1909 | St Albans VT – St Albans VT) poet, author, novelist, essayist, memoirist, honorary lieutenant colonel in Vermont Militia


1820s

Margaret Junkin Preston (19 may 1820 – 28 mar 1897 | Milton PA – Baltimore MD) poet, essayist, memoirist, Confederate, blind later in life

Mary Ashton Rice Livermore (19 dec 1820 – 23 may 1905 | Boston MA – Melrose MA) editor, author, essayist, journalist, memoirist, suffragist, newspaper founder, women’s biographer, Universalist minister, women’s rights activist, temperance advocate, Civil War Sanitary Commission member

Phoebe Yates Levy Pember (18 aug 1823 – 04 mar 1913 | Charleston SC – Pittsburgh PA) memoirist, medical pioneer, Civil War nurse, Confederate hospital administrator

Jessie Ann Benton Frémont (31 may 1824 – 27 dec 1902 | Rockbridge VA – Los Angeles CA) author, memoirist, abolitionist, political activist, short story writer

Virginia Caroline Tunstall Clay-Clopton (16 jan 1825 – 23 jan 1915 | Nash County NC – Gurley AL) author, memoirist, political wife, suffragist, United Daughters of the Confederacy member

Julia Boggs Dent Grant (26 jan 1826 – 14 dec 1902 | St Louis MO – Washington DC) memoirist, US Presidential First Lady

Eliza Allen Billings (27 jan 1826 – 1866 | Eastport ME – Eastport ME) memoirist, adventurer, disguised male soldier George Mead in Mexican-American War

Varina Banks Howell Davis (07 may 1826 – 16 oct 1906 | Natchez MS – New York NY) writer, memoirist, columnist, Confederate States First Lady, post-war reconciliation activist

Mary Elizabeth Wilson [M.E.W.] Sherwood (27 oct 1826 – 12 sep 1903 | Keene NH – Manhattan NY) poet, essayist, memoirist, travel / etiquette writer, autobiographical author

Amanda Akin Stearns (18 nov 1827 – 02 feb 1911 | Pawling NY – Pawling NY) author, US Civil War nurse, memoirist

Mary Ann Harris Gay (18 mar 1828 – 06 nov 1918 | Jones County GA – Decatur GA) poet, author, diarist, memoirist, US Confederate heroine

Kate Cumming (05 jun 1828 – 05 jun 1909 | Scotland UK – Birmingham AL) diarist, memoirist, Confederate nurse

Jane Cunningham Croly (19 dec 1829 – 23 dec 1901 | New York NY – Lakewood NJ) suffragist, memoirist, journalist, columnist, Sorosis women’s press club founder, General Federation of Women’s Clubs founder


1830s

Jane Stuart Woolsey (07 feb 1830 – 09 jul 1891 | Brooklyn NY – Fishkill NY) teacher, memoirist, Civil War Union nurse, field hospital superintendent

Sara Agnes Rice Pryor (19 feb 1830 – 15 feb 1912 | Hitesburg VA – Bloomfield NJ) author, memoirist, novelist, journal writer, fundraiser, preservationist, Civil War historian, social / community / women and children’s activist

Mary Anna Morrison Jackson (21 jul 1831 – 24 mar 1915 | Lincoln NC – Charlotte NC) author, memoirist, military / political wife, aka Widow of the Confederacy

Narcissa Clark Chisholm Owen (03 oct 1831 – 12 jul 1911 | Webbers Falls, Cherokee Nation – Washington DC) artist, educator, Cherokee, memoirist, painter, finger weaver, tapestry artist

Anna Harriet Edwards Leonowens (06 nov 1831 – 19 jan 1915 | Ahmednagar IND – Montreal QC) Canadian, teacher, folk figure, suffragist, memoirist, women’s activist, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design co-founder

Elizabeth Lyle Saxon (02 dec 1832 – 14 mar 1915 | Greenville TN – Memphis TN) speaker, memoirist, women’s rights activist, pioneer Southern suffrage leader

Georgeanna Muirson Woolsey Bacon (05 nov 1833 – 27 jan 1906 | Brooklyn NY – New Haven CT) nurse, author, memoirist, letter correspondent, Civil War Union nurse, co-founded Connecticut Training School for Nurses at New Haven Hospital

Annie Adams Fields (06 jun 1834 – 05 jan 1915 | Boston MA – Cambridge MA) author, diarist, memoirist, biographer, social reformer, philanthropist

Catherine Carney Sager Pringle (15 apr 1835 – 08 aug 1910 | Union County OH – Spokane WA) diarist, pioneer, memoirist, survivor

Elizabeth Newton Woolsey Howland (22 jul 1835 – 03 jul 1917 | New York NY – Newport RI) author, memoirist, Civil War Union nurse, Howland Circulating Library co-founder

Isabelle Walton Lusk (16 oct 1835 – 22 jan 1933 | Old Town ME – Sacramento CA) memoirist, national traveler, travel author

Rose Eytinge (21 nov 1835 – 20 dec 1911 | Philadelphia PA – Amityville NY) Jewish-American author, actress, memoirist, screenwriter

Miriam Florence Folline Squier Leslie (05 jun 1836 – 18 sep 1914 | New Orleans LA – New York NY) author, memoirist, publisher

Elizabeth Sager Helm (06 jul 1837 – 19 jul 1925 | Union County OH – Portland OR) survivor, memoirist, Oregon Trail Pioneer, orphaned twice: biological parents on The Trail [1844] and adoptive parents on The Trail in Whitman Massacre [1847]

Eliza Spalding Warren (11 aug 1837 – 21 jun 1919 | Spalding ID – Coeur d’Alene ID) pioneer, memoirist [daughter of Eliza Hart Spalding]

Mary Cunningham Logan (15 aug 1838 – 22 feb 1922 | Petersburg MO – Washington DC ) writer, editor, memoirist

Katherine Abbott [Kate] Sanborn (10 jul 1839 – 09 jul 1917 | Hanover NH – Medway MA) poet, author, teacher, humorist, memoirist, public speaker, calendar publisher, children’s school founder, newspaper / magazine correspondent


1840s

Cornelia Hancock (08 feb 1840 – 31 dec 1927 | Hancock’s Bridge NJ – Atlantic City NJ) author, memoirist, social activist, Civil War Union nurse, educator, school founder

Flora Adams Darling (25 jul 1840 – 06 jan 1910 | Lancaster NH – New York NY) author, memoirist, founding president US Daughters of 1812, born Sophronia A. Adams

Eliza Frances Andrews (10 aug 1840 – 21 jan 1931 | Washington GA – Rome GA) diarist, botanist, essayist, educator, memoirist, textbook author, magazine writer

Eleanor Agnes Lee (27 feb 1841 – 15 oct 1873 | Arlington VA – Lexington VA) poet, diarist, memoirist, folk figure, Confederate military family daughter

Matilda Ann [Linda] Judson Richards (27 jul 1841 – 16 apr 1930 | West Potsdam NY – Boston MA) nurse, author, memoirist, nursing educator, first professional trained US nurse, established nursing schools in US and Japan, created first system for keeping individual medical records for hospitalized patients

Loreta Janeta Velazquez (26 jun 1842 – 26 jan 1923 | Havana, Cuba – Washington DC) memoirist, Confederate Civil War spy / soldier, aka Lieutenant Harry Buford, died as Loreta J. Beard at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital for the Insane

Clara Louise Kellogg (09 jul 1842 – 13 may 1916 | Sumterville SC – New Hartford CT) memoirist, operatic prima donna, opera company founder / director

Elizabeth Benton [Lily] Frémont (15 nov 1842 – 28 may 1919 | Washington DC – Los Angeles CA) memoirist, letter correspondent, political family member

Eliza Poor Donner Houghton (08 mar 1843 – 19 feb 1922 | Springfield IL – Los Angeles CA) memoirist, massacre survivor

LaSalle Corbell Pickett (16 may 1843 – 22 mar 1931 | Nansemond VA – Richmond VA) US author, lecturer, biographer Civil War Confederate memoirist

Isabella Maria [Belle] Boyd (09 may 1844 – 11 jun 1900 | Martinsburg VA [now WV] – Kilbourne [now Wisconsin Dells] WI) spy, lecturer, memoirist, aka Cleopatra of the Secession, Siren of the Shenandoah

Olive Risley Seward (15 jul 1844 – 27 nov 1908 | Fredonia NY – Washington DC) memoirist, travel writer, founded Literary Society of Washington

Martha [Mattie] Whitney Summerhayes (21 oct 1844 – 12 may 1926 | Nantucket MA – Schenectady NY) memoirist, travel writer, world traveler, pioneer Army wife, autobiographical author

Agnes Salm-Salm (25 dec 1844 – 21 dec 1912 | Franklin VT – Karlsruhe DEU) memoirist, war / political activist, US Civil War field nurse, Prussian Princess by marriage, born Agnes Elisabeth Winona Leclerc Joy

Myrtle Fillmore (06 aug 1845 – 06 oct 1931 | Pagetown OH – Lees Summit MO) author, memoirist, schoolteacher, New Thought practitioner, Unity Church co-founder, née Mary Caroline Page, aka Mother of Unity

Laura Askew Haygood (14 oct 1845 – 29 apr 1900 | Watkinsville GA – Shanghai CN) educator, missionary, memoirist, letter correspondent

Matilda [Tillie] Pierce Alleman (11 mar 1848 – 15 mar 1914 | Gettysburg PA – Philadelphia PA) memoirist, Civil War activist / participant / observer

Susie Baker King Taylor (06 aug 1848 – 06 oct 1912 | Liberty GA – Boston MA) memoirist, social activist, Civil War nurse, aka The Black Clara Barton

Maritcha Remond Lyons (25 oct 1848 – 28 jan 1929 | Brooklyn NY – Brooklyn NY) author, feminist, memoirist, civic leader, public educator, biographical essayist, childhood home part of Underground Railroad, first African-American student to graduate from Providence [RI] High School, second black female public school assistant principal, co-founded Women’s Loyal Union and White Rose Mission


1850s

Frances Xavier [Mother] Cabrini (15 jul 1850 – 22 dec 1917 | Sant’Angelo, Italy – Chicago IL) educator, missionary, memoirist, Catholic saint, Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart founder / director

Rose Hawthorne Lathrop (20 may 1851 – 09 jul 1926 Lenox MA – New York NY) author, religious sister, memoirist, social worker, aka Mother Mary Alphonsa

Minnie Hauk (16 nov 1851 – 06 feb 1929 | New York NY – Lucerne, Switzerland) memoirist, operatic soprano, born Amalia Mignon Hauck

Martha Jane Cannary (01 may 1852 – 01 aug 1903 | Princeton MO – Terry SD) folk figure, memoirist, aka Calamity Jane, frontierswoman, professional scout

Grace Elizabeth King (29 nov 1852 – 12 jan 1932 | New Orleans LA – New Orleans LA) novelist, memoirist, biographer, literary / historical leader

Katrina Trask (30 may 1853 – 08 jan 1922 | Brooklyn NY – Saratoga Springs NY) poet, memoirist, playwright, philanthropist, co-founder of Yaddo artists’ retreat, aka Kate Nicholes Trask

Sara Delano Roosevelt (21 sep 1854 – 07 sep 1941 | Newburgh NY – Hyde Park NY) memoirist, mother of FDR, political family member, mother-in-law to Eleanor Roosevelt

Louisine Waldron Elder Havemeyer (28 jul 1855 – 06 jan 1929 | New York NY – New York NY) feminist, suffragist, memoirist, art collector, artist’s model, philanthropist, patron of American Impressionist Mary Cassatt

Elizabeth Gardiner Glendower Evans (28 feb 1856 – 12 dec 1937 | New Rochelle NY – Brookline MA) memoirist, social activist

Anna Elizabeth Klumpke (28 oct 1856 – 09 feb 1942 | San Francisco CA – San Francisco CA) artist, biographer, memoirist, portrait painter, autobiographical author

Josephine Meeker (28 jan 1857 – 20 dec 1882 | Ohio US – Colorado US) teacher, memoirist, physician, Ute tribe / Meeker Massacre captive / survivor

Henrietta McCormick Goodhart (22 apr 1857 – 1932 | Chicago IL – Langley Park MD) heiress, memoirist, managed McCormick-Goodhart Mansion on Langley Park Estate

Myrta Lockett Avary (07 dec 1857 – 14 feb 1946 | Halifax VA – Atlanta GA) author, journalist, memoirist

Lillian Nordica (12 dec 1857 – 10 may 1914 | Farmington ME –  Jakarta IDN) memoirist, operatic dramatic soprano

Jessie Catherine Kinsley (26 mar 1858 – 10 feb 1938 | Oneida NY – Oneida NY) diarist, painter, folk artist, memoirist, letter correspondent, braided tapestry maker, Oneida Community member


1860s

Henrietta Szold (21 dec 1860 – 13 feb 1945 | Baltimore MD – Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine) Jewish-American author, memoirist, women’s US Zionist leader, Hadassah Women’s Organization founder

Josephine Sarah Marcus [Sadie] Earp (19 mar 1861 – 19 dec 1944 | New York NY – Los Angeles CA) actress, dancer, memoirist, folk figure, frontier adventurer, common-law wife of Wyatt Earp

Helen Herron [Nellie] Taft (02 jun 1861 – 22 may 1943 | Cincinnati OH – Washington DC) memoirist, US Presidential First Lady, patroness of music, planted / arranged first plantings of Japanese cherry trees gifted to Washington DC

Sara Luellen Miller (30 oct 1861 – 1936 | Oberlin OH – Tsinan CN) educator, memoirist, missionary, founded China’s first college for women [North China Union College for Women]

Vida Dutton Scudder (15 dec 1861 – 09 oct 1954 | Madurai IND – Wellesley MA) author, essayist, lecturer, professor, memoirist, autobiographer, social gospel movement / welfare activist

Loïe Fuller (15 jan 1862 – 01 jan 1928 | Fullersburg IL – Paris FR) dancer, memoirist, choreographer, free dance practitioner, stage lighting artist / inventor / patent holder

Anna Schoen-René (11 jan 1864 – 1942 | Berlin DEU – New York NY) German-American author, musician, memoirist, music teacher, entrepreneur, aka Godmother of Minnesota Orchestra, considered first woman to conduct an orchestra in the USA

Rebekah Bettelheim Kohut (09 sep 1864 – 11 aug 1951 | Kaschau HU -New York NY) memoirist, educational activist, president National Council of Jewish Women, national / international Jewish women’s welfare advocate

Elizabeth Garver Jordan (09 may 1865 – 24 feb 1947 | Milwaukee WI – New York NY) editor, novelist, memoirist, journalist, suffragist

Anne Walter Fearn (21 may 1865 – 28 apr 1939 | Holly Springs MS – Berkeley CA) physician, memoirist, missionary

Anna Farquhar Bergengren (23 dec 1865 – unknown | Brookville IN – unknown) editor, author, memoirist, journalist, foreign correspondent, pen name Margaret Allston

Lillian Heath Nelson (29 dec 1865 – 05 aug 1962 | Burnett Junction WI – Rawlins WY) memoirist, first female doctor in Wyoming, one of first female medical practitioners west of the Mississippi River

Johanna [Anne] Sullivan Macy (14 apr 1866 – 20 oct 1936 | Feeding Hills MA – Forest Hills NY) memoirist, childhood onset blindness, teacher / companion of Helen Keller

Laura Ingalls Wilder (07 feb 1867 – 10 feb 1957 | Pepin County WI – Mansfield MO) author, memoirist, pioneer settler, farm journalist, children’s book writer

Adelaide [Addie] Worth Bagley Daniels (01 may 1869 – 19 dec 1943 | Raleigh NC – Raleigh NC) writer, memoirist, suffragist leader, political family member, US delegate to Eighth Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance [1920]

Janet Scudder (27 oct 1869 – 09 jun 1940 | Terre Haute IN – Rockport MA) sculptor, memoirist, born Netta Deweze Frazee

Marie Dressler (09 nov 1869 – 28 jul 1934 | Cobourg ON- Santa Barbara CA) Canadian actress, memoirist

Ariadna Vladimirovna Tyrkova-Williams (13 nov 1869 – 12 jan 1962 | Saint Petersburg RU – Washington DC) editor, writer, feminist, fundraiser, journalist, memoirist, biographer, liberal politician, women’s rights activist, member of All-Russian Union for Women’s Equality, co-founded Russian Liberation Committee in London UK

Adella Prentiss Hughes (29 nov 1869 – 02 aug 1950 | Cleveland OH – Cleveland OH) pianist, impresario, memoirist, philanthropist, organized Cleveland Orchestra


1870s

Susan [Susie] Norris Fitkin (31 mar 1870 – 18 oct 1951 | Ely QC – Oakland CA) author, minister, memoirist, evangelist, founder / president of Women’s Foreign Missionary Society (now Nazarene Missions International), co-funded / co-founded numerous churches / hospitals / children’s care facilities

Florence [Daisy] Jaffray Harriman (21 jul 1870 – 31 aug 1967 | New York NY – Washington DC) diplomat, socialist, suffragist, memoirist, non-fiction author, social reformer / organizer

Edith Bolling Galt Wilson (15 oct 1872 – 28 dec 1961 | Wytheville VA – Washington DC) First Lady, memoirist, unofficial acting US President

Mary Rowena [Rena] Maverick Green (10 feb 1874 – 29 nov 1962 | Sedalia MO – San Antonio TX) editor, sculptor, suffragist, memoirist, publisher, watercolorist, social activist, one of first women on San Antonio School Board, co-founder / first president of San Antonio Conservation Society

Hallie Erminie Rives (02 may 1874 – 16 aug 1956 | Hopkinsville KY – New York NY) novelist, memoirist, married US Foreign Service Diplomat

Mary Heaton Vorse O’Brien (11 oct 1874 – 14 jun 1966 | New York NY – Provincetown MA) artist, novelist, journalist, memoirist, peace / social justice activist

Mary Teresa Norton (07 mar 1875 – 02 aug 1959 | Jersey City NJ – Greenwich CT) politician, memoirist [unpublished], co-founded Queen’s Daughters Day Nursery, child labor / minimum wage / women’s rights activist / legislator

Matilda Calder Thurston (16 may 1875 – 18 apr 1958 | Hartford CT – Auburndale MA) US missionary, memoirist, college founder

Ethel Newcomb (30 oct 1875 – 04 jul 1959 | Whitney Point NY – Whitney Point NY) author, biographer, memoirist, classical concert pianist, known for interpretation of works of Beethoven

Mary Ellicott Arnold (23 apr 1876 – 1968 | New Brighton NY – Nova Scotia, Canada) writer, teacher, memoirist, Native American Indian rights activist, member Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom [WILPF]

Mary Ritter Beard (05 aug 1876 – 14 aug 1958 | Indianapolis IN – Phoenix AZ) author, archivist, historian, memoirist, suffragist, woman’s historian, women’s rights activist

Natalie Clifford Barney (31 oct 1876 – 24 apr 1972 | Dayton OH – Paris FR) poet, memoirist, epigrammatist

Edwina Hume Fallis (15 nov 1876 – 14 sep 1947 | Denver CO – Denver CO) poet, writer, memoirist, educator, toy designer

Alice B. Toklas (30 apr 1877 – 07 mar 1967 | San Francisco CA – Paris FR) writer, memoirist, cookbook author, literary figure / companion

Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve (03 oct 1877 – 07 jul 1965 | New York NY – Centreville NY) author, academic, memoirist, women’s college dean, first sole female / original UN charter delegate

Lillian Evelyn Moller Gilbreth (24 may 1878 – 02 jan 1972 | Oakland CA – Phoenix AZ) author, engineer, biographer, memoirist, psychologist, inventor / innovator

Alice Mary Baldwin (24 jan 1879 – 12 oct 1960 | Lewiston ME – Durham NC) American educator, historian, memoirist, non-fiction author, women’s history activist / proponent, academic dean / administrator

Mabel Ganson Evans Dodge Sterne Luhan (26 feb 1879 – 13 aug 1962 | Buffalo NY – Taos NM) author, hostess, memoirist, patron of women’s arts / artists / writers, Native American culture promoter, pioneer US psychoanalysis patient


1880s

Frances [Fannie Coralie] Perkins Wilson (10 apr 1880 – 14 may 1965 | Boston MA – New York NY) memoirist, politician, US Secretary of Labor, workers’ rights activist, aka The Woman Behind the New Deal

Gemma La Guardia Gluck (24 apr 1881 – 01 nov 1962 | New York NY – New York NY) memoirist, Italian-Jewish-American, Holocaust survivor, sister of Fiorello La Guardia [first Italian-American mayor of NYC]

Mary MacLane (01 may 1881 – 06 aug 1929 | Winnipeg MB – Chicago IL) Canadian-American memoirist, confessional / autobiographical novelist

Olive Higgins Prouty (10 jan 1882 – 24 mar 1974 | Worcester MA – Brookline MA) poet, novelist, memoirist, philanthropist, founded Smith College writers’ scholarship

Geraldine Farrar (28 feb 1882 – 11 mar 1967 | Melrose MA – Ridgefield CT) actress, memoirist, operatic lyric soprano

Rose Schneiderman (06 apr 1882 – 11 aug 1972 | Sawin, Congress Poland – New York NY) suffragist, memoirist

Leonie von Meusebach-Zesch (27 nov 1882 – 07 jul 1944 | Mason County TX – Oakland CA) memoirist, social activist, pioneer dentist / dental surgeon, first mobile dental clinic innovator

Sonia Haft Shafirkin Greene Lovecraft Davis (16 mar 1883 – 26 dec 1972 | Ichnia, Russian Empire – Sunland CA) poet, editor, author, milliner, memoirist, essayist, publisher, playwright, fanzine investor, short fiction writer, president of United Amateur Press Association

Ruth Imogen Stout (14 jun 1884 – 22 aug 1980 | Topeka KS – Redding CT) memoirist, nonfiction author, no-work gardening expert / innovator

Ruth Draper (02 dec 1884 – 30 dec 1956 | New York NY – New York NY) diseuse, actress, dramatist, memoirist

Evelyn Nesbit (25 dec 1884 – 17 jan 1967 | Tarentum PA – Santa Monica CA) dancer, actress, memoirist, artist’s model, fashion model, in fatal love triangle with Stanford White and Harry Thaw

Malvina Cornell Hoffman (15 jun 1885 – 10 jul 1966 | New York NY – New York NY) author, memoirist, salon hostess, figurative sculptor, WWII Red Cross activist

Ethel Walbridge McCully (13 may 1886 – 21 dec 1980 | New York NY – St John USVI) novelist,  memoirist, housebuilder, WWI ambulance driver

Evalyn Walsh McLean (01 aug 1886 – 26 apr 1947 | Leadville CO – Washington DC) heiress, memoirist, folk figure, last private owner of the Hope Diamond

Hilda Doolittle (10 sep 1886 – 27 sep 1961 | Bethlehem PA – Zürich CH) poet, aka H. D., novelist, memoirist

Alice Huyler Ramsey (22 nov 1886 – 10 sep 1983 | Hackensack NJ – Covina CA) memoirist, automotive pioneer, first woman to drive coast-to-coast USA, first female Automotive Hall of Fame inductee [posthumously in 2000]

Margaret Caroline Anderson (24 nov 1886 – 19 oct 1973 | Indianapolis IN – Cannes FR) author, memoirist, original Fourth Way follower, art / literary magazine founder / editor / publisher

Nancy Woodbridge [Sylvia] Beach (14 mar 1887 – 05 oct 1962 | Baltimore MD – Paris FR) bookseller, publisher, expatriate, memoirist, literary folk figure

Blanche Yurka (19 jun 1887 – 06 jun 1974 | St Paul MN – New York NY) author, actress, memoirist

Georgia O’Keeffe (15 nov 1887 – 06 mar 1986 | Sun Prairie WI – Santa Fe NM) painter, artistic icon, memoirist, autobiographer, letter correspondent

Charlotte [Lotte] Lehman (27 feb 1888 – 26 aug 1976 | Perleberg, Province of Brandenberg – Santa Barbara CA) German-born American poet, painter, memoirist, operatic soprano, master voice teacher, autobiographical author

Sophie Lewis Hutchinson Drinker (24 aug 1888 – 06 sep 1967 | Haverford PA – Philadelphia PA) author, musician, musicologist, choral composer, unpublished memoirist, pioneered / founded women’s musicological and gender studies

Dorothy Celeste Boulding Ferebee (10 oct 1888 – 14 sep 1980 | Norfolk VA – Washington DC) physician, social activist, memoirist, oral historian, national Girl Scout leader

Käte Frankenthal (30 jan 1889 – 21 apr 1976 | Kiel DEU – New York NY) German-American author, physician, memoirist, psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, socialist politician, marriage / family therapist

Sarah Louise [Sadie] Delany (19 sep 1889 – 25 jan 1999 | Lynch Station VA – Mount Vernon NY) author, teacher, memoirist


1890s

Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy (22 jul 1890 – 22 jan 1995 | Boston MA – Hyannis MA) memoirist, philanthropist, US political family matriarch

Bella Fromm (21 dec 1890 – 09 feb 1972 | Nuremberg DEU – New York NY) memoirist, political exile, German-American journalist

Doris Fleischman Bernays (18 jul 1891 – 10 jul 1980 | New York NY – Cambridge MA) essayist, journalist, memoirist, feminist activist, public relations executive, Lucy Stone League member, first female New York Times reporter to cover boxing match, first married woman issued US Passport in maiden name

Annie Elizabeth Delany (03 sep 1891 – 25 sep 1995 | Raleigh NC – Mount Vernon NY) author, dentist, memoirist

Brenda Ueland (24 oct 1891 – 05 mar 1985 | Minneapolis MN – Minneapolis MN) editor, author, journalist, swimmer, biographer, memoirist, writing teacher, animal welfare activist, autobiographical author

Djuna Barnes (12 jun 1892 – 18 jun 1982 | Cornwall-on-Hudson NY – New York NY) poet, writer, journalist, illustrator, memoirist, playwright, sketch artist

Ruth Suckow (06 aug 1892 – 23 jan 1960 | Hawarden IA – Claremont CA) author, novelist, memoirist

Abigail Adams Eliot (09 oct 1892 – 29 oct 1992 | Dorchester MA – Concord MA) author, teacher, memoirist, nursery school movement pioneer / activist / advocate

Maria Cristina Mena Chambers (03 apr 1893 – 03 aug 1965 | Mexico City, Mexico – Brooklyn NY) memoirist, children’s author, short story writer, nonfiction author

Mary Frederika [Freda] Kirchwey (26 sep 1893 – 03 jan 1976) | Lake Placid NY –  St Petersburg FL) author, pacifist, journalist, publisher, memoirist, peace / racial equality activist

Osa Helen Leighty Johnson (14 mar 1894 – 07 jan 1953 | Chanute KS – New York NY) explorer, lecturer, filmmaker, photographer,  travel writer / memoirist

Ester Helen Patges Richardson Dreiser (02 may 1894 – 22 sep 1955 | Pennsylvania – Glendale CA) actress, author, memoirist

Blanche Wolf Knopf (30 jul 1894 – 04 jun 1966 | New York NY – New York NY) editor, publisher, memoirist

Nora Waln (04 jun 1895 – 27 sep 1964 | Grampian Hills PA – Malaga, Spain) author, novelist, memoirist, magazine writer, war correspondent

India Edwards (16 jun 1895 – 14 jan 1990 | Chicago IL – Sebastopol CA) politician, suffragist, memoirist, former Vice Chairwoman of US Democratic National Committee

Carobeth Tucker Laird (20 jul 1895 – 05 aug 1983 | Coleman TX – San Diego CA) memoirist, ethnographer, studied Chemehuevi of southeastern CA / western AZ

Ruth Cheney Streeter (02 oct 1895 – 30 sep 1990 | Brookline MA – Morristown NJ) memoirist, biographer, first US Marine Corps Women’s Reserve director

Vivien Kellems (07 jun 1896 – 25 jan 1975 | Des Moines IA – Brentwood CA) memoirist, tax resister, industrialist, social / political activist

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (08 aug 1896 – 14 dec 1953 | Washington DC – St Augustine FL) poet, novelist, memoirist, short fiction writer, letter correspondent

Rose Pesotta (20 nov 1896 – 04 dec 1965 | Derazhnia, Ukraine – Miami FL) author, anarchist, memoirist, feminist labor organizer, vice-president of ILGWU [International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union]

Natacha Rambova (19 jan 1897 – 05 jun 1966 | Salt Lake City UT – Pasadena CA) actress, ballerina, producer, playwright, memoirist, artistic director, screenwriter, set / costume / fashion designer, elite couture fashion shop owner, born Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy

Amelia Earhart (24 jul 1897 – disappeared 02 jul 1927 | Atchison KS – near Howland Island, Pacific Ocean) author, aviator, social worker, memoirist, letter correspondent

Lillian Eugenia Smith (12 dec 1897 – 28 sep 1966 | Jasper FL – Atlanta GA) Southern US novelist, memoirist, social critic, civil rights activist

Gladys Swarthout Chapman (25 dec 1897 – 07 jul 1969 | Deepwater MO – Florence, Italy) novelist, memoirist, film actress, operatic mezzo soprano

Irene Corbally Kuhn (15 jan 1898 – 30 dec 1995 | New York NY – Concord MA) journalist, memoirist, syndicated columnist, founding member Overseas Press Club

Katherine Ball Ripley (20 mar 1898 – 24 jul 1955 | Charleston SC – Charleston SC) novelist, memoirist, short story writer

Maria Rasputin (27 mar 1898 – 27 sep 1977 | Pokrovskoye, Russian Empire – Los Angeles NY) writer, riveter, memoirist, circus performer, animal trainer, born Matryona Grigorievna Rasputina

Rosie Goldschmidt [R. G.] Waldeck (24 jul 1898 – 29 aug 1982 | Mannheim DEU- New York NY) novelist, memoirist, magazine correspondent, autobiographical author

Eve La Gallienne (11 jan 1899 – 03 jun 1991 | London UK – Weston CT) English-American actress, lesbian, producer, director, essayist, memoirist, biographer

Eugenia Drabek Smetisko Smith (25 jan 1899 – 31 jan 1997 | Bukovina AH – North Kingstown RI) public speaker, false memoirist / autobiographical author, Romanov impostor who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia

Bella Cohen Spewack (25 mar 1899 – 29 apr 1990 | Transylvania RO – Manhattan NY) diarist, reporter, lyricist, memoirist, screenwriter

Nan Wood Graham (26 jul 1899 – 14 dec 1990 | Anamosa IA – Menlo Park CA) memoirist, folk figure, artist’s model, art historian, American Gothic icon

Colleen Moore (19 aug 1899 – 25 jan 1988 | Port Huron MI – Paso Robles CA) memoirist, silent screen star, non-fiction author,  doll house creator / collector / contributor


1900s

Kathryn Cavarly Hulme (06 jan 1900 – 25 aug 1981 | San Francisco CA – Kauai HI) author, memoirist

Alice Neel (28 jan 1900 – 13 oct 1984 | Merion Square PA – New York NY) artist, author, memoirist, expressionistic portrait painter

Ilka Chase (08 apr 1900 – 15 feb 1978 | New York NY – Mexico City, Mexico) actress, novelist, memoirist

Georgia Theodora Hale (25 jun 1900 – 17 jun 1985 | St. Joseph MO – Hollywood CA) memoirist, silent actress, dance teacher, real estate investor, Christian Scientist

hryn Cavarly Hulme (06 jul 1900 – 25 aug 1981 | San Francisco CA – Lihue HI) author, lesbian, novelist, memoirist, Catholic convert, member of mystic Gurdjieff group of women called ‘The Rope’, post-WWII Deputy Director of United Nations Relief and Refugee Association (UNRRA) field teams in Germany

Frederica Alexandrina Sagor Maas (06 jul 1900 – 05 jan 2012 | New York NY – La Mesa CA) author, dramatist, memoirist, playwright, screenwriter, lived 111 years 183 days

Helen Hayes Brown MacArthur (10 oct 1900 – 17 mar 1993 | Washington DC – Nyack NY) actress, memoirist, philanthropist, autobiographical writer, aka First Lady of American Theatre

Greta Kempton (22 mar 1901 – 10 dec 1991 | Vienna AT – New York NY) author, painter, memoirist, religious art restorer, White House portrait artist

Ruth Porter Crawford Seeger (03 jul 1901 – 18 nov 1953 | East Liverpool OH – Chevy Chase MD) author, memoirist, modernist composer, American folk music specialist

Agnes Newton Keith (04 jul 1901 – 30 mar 1982 | Oak Park IL – Oak Bay BC) memoirist, POW survivor, autobiographical author

Viola Goode Liddell (18 dec 1901 – 16 may 1998 | Gastonburg AL – Camden AL) poet, author, memoirist, storyteller, short fiction writer

Marie Magdalene [Marlene] Dietrich (27 dec 1901 – 06 may 1992 | Schöneberg DEU – Paris FR) singer, actress, memoirist, German-American, social / film icon, recluse, autobiographical

Gertrude Sanford Legendre (29 mar 1902 – 08 mar 2000 | Aiken SC – Berkeley County SC) WWII spy, socialite, explorer, memoirist, environmentalist, big-game hunter, Southern plantation owner

Elizabeth Blake Goudie (20 apr 1902 – 10 jun 1982 | Mud Lake, Labrador – Happy Valley, Labrador) cook, author, memoirist

Jean Van Kirk Dalrymple (05 sep 1902 – 15 nov 1998 | Morristown NJ – New York NY) playwright, publicist, manager, memoirist, theatre producer, instrumental in founding New York City Center

Cheryl Crawford (24 sep 1902 – 07 oct 1986 | Akron OH – New York NY) memoirist, theater director, independent producer

Joan Lowell (23 nov 1902 – 07 nov 1967 | Berkeley CA – Brasilia, Brazil) film director, memoirist, silent screen actress, newspaper reporter, fabricated autobiographical author

Ethel Kremer Schwabacher (20 may 1903 – 25 nov 1984 | New York NY – New York NY) artist, author, memoirist, abstract expressionist painter

Marcia Davenport (09 jun 1903 – 16 jan 1996 | New York NY – Monterey CA) author, music critic, memoirist, biographer

Louise Dickinson Rich (14 jun 1903 – 09 apr 1991 | Huntington MA – Mattapoisett MA) novelist, essayist, memoirist, autobiographical author

Eleanor Grace Twitchell Gehrig (06 mar 1904 – 06 mar 1984 | Chicago IL – Manhattan NY) folk figure, memoirist, health activist, Muscular Dystrophy national chair

Doris Eaton Travis (14 mar 1904 – 11 may 2010 | Norfolk VA – Commerce MI) dancer, rancher, memoirist, stage / film actress, dance instructor, last of the Ziegfeld Girls

Louise Leung Larson (16 feb 1905 – 01 oct 1988 | California US – Los Angeles CA) memoirist, journalist, first Chinese-American / first Asian-American reporter in mainstream US daily paper [1926]

Mary Jane Ward (27 aug 1905 – 17 feb 1981 | Fairmount IN – Tucson AZ) novelist, memoirist, psychiatric survivor, autobiographical author

Ivy Baker Priest (07 sep 1905 – 23 jun 1975 | Kimberly UT – Santa Monica CA) memoirist, Treasurer of the United States, California State Treasurer

Agnes George de Mille (18 sep 1905 – 07 oct 1993 New York NY – New York NY) author, dancer, memoirist, master teacher, choreographer

Dorothy Tree (21 may 1906 – 13 feb 1992 | Brooklyn NY – Englewood NJ) actress, voice teacher, memoirist, non-fiction author, born Dorothy Estelle Triebitz

Anne Morrow Lindbergh (22 jun 1906 – 07 feb 2001 | Englewood NJ – Passumpsic VT) poet, author, aviator, memoirist, mother of kidnapped / murdered child

Alice Ambrose Lazerowitz (25 nov 1906 – 25 jan 2001 | Lexington IL – Northampton MA) author, logician, lecturer, memoirist, philosopher, professor of philosophy, close disciple of Ludwig Wittgenstein

Esther Eggertsen Peterson (09 dec 1906 – 20 dec 1997 | Provo UT – Washington DC) memoirist, professor, organizer, women’s / consumer rights activist, US Assistant Secretary of Labor, Director of US Women’s Bureau

Olivia Joyce Compton (27 jan 1907 – 13 oct 1997 | Lexington KY – Los Angeles CA) nurse, actress, memoirist, devout Christian, protested ‘dumb blonde’ stereotype

Ruby Altizer Roberts (22 apr 1907 – 24 may 2004 | Alum Ridge VA – Christiansburg VA) editor, memoirist, publisher, children’s book author, first / only female Poet Laureate of Virginia

Irene Hunt  (18 may 1907 – 18 may 2001 | Pontiac IL – Savoy IL) teacher, novelist, memoirist

Arlene Francis Kazanjian (20 oct 1907 – 31 may 2001 | Boston MA – San Francisco CA) actress, memoirist, radio talk show host, television game show panelist, autobiographical author

Florence Rhein Bayard Bird (15 jan 1908 – 18 jul 1998 | Philadelphia PA – Ottawa ON) author, memoirist, journalist, broadcaster, Canadian Senator, Chair of Royal Commission on the Status of Women

Kathryn Anderson McLean (20 mar 1908 – 15 may 1966 | San Francisco CA – San Francisco CA) memoirist, aka Kathryn Forbes, radio script / short story writer

Ernestine Gilbreth Carey (04 apr 1908 – 04 nov 2006 | New York NY – Fresno CA) novelist, memoirist

Eve Arden West (30 apr 1908 – 12 nov 1990 | Mill Valley CA – Los Angeles CA) actress, memoirist, born Eunice Quedens, known for “Our Miss Brooks” television series

Anna Wescott [Nancy] Hale (06 may 1908 – 24 sep 1988 | Boston MA – Charlottesville VA) novelist, memoirist, playwright, short fiction writer, co-founded Virginia Center for the Creative Arts

Marcella Bannett Rabwin (15 may 1908 – 25 dec 1998 | Richmond VA – New York NY) memoirist, dressmaker, executive assistant

Estée Lauder (01 jul 1908 – 24 apr 2004 | Corona NY – New York NY) author, memoirist, businesswoman, cosmetics magnate, co-founded Estee Lauder company, born Josephine Esther Mentzer

Mary Francis Kennedy [M. F. K.] Fisher (03 jul 1908 – 22 jun 1992 | Albion MI – Glen Ellen CA) memoirist, food / travel writer, Napa Valley Wine Library founder

Mildred Lisette Norman (18 jul 1908 – 07 jul 1981 | Egg Harbor City NJ – Knox IN) mystic, pacifist, memoirist, spiritual teacher, peace / vegan activist, first woman to walk entire length of Appalachian Trail in one season, aka The Peace Pilgrim

Martha Eccles Dodd (08 oct 1908 – 10 aug 1990 | Ashland VA – Prague Czechoslovakia) author, novelist, memoirist, former spy

Patsy Montana (30 oct 1908 – 03 may 1996 | Beaudry AR – San Jacinto CA) memoirist, country musician, born Rubye Rebecca Blevins

Leona Rostenberg (28 dec 1908 – 17 mar 2005 | Bronx NY – Manhattan NY) author, memoirist, essayist, rare books dealer / collector

Evelyn Maurine Norton Lincoln (25 jun 1909 – 11 may 1995 | Polk County NE – Washington DC) memoirist, secretary to Senator-then-President JFK

Elizabeth [Lisa] Eckstein Fitko (23 aug 1909 – 12 mar 2005 | Uzhhorod HU – Chicago IL) memoirist, WWII war hero, underground resistance fighter, guided escapes from Nazi-occupied France


1910s

Joan Geraldine Bennett (27 feb 1910 – 07 dec 1990 | Palisades NJ – Scarsdale NY) author, actress, memoirist, television show panelist

Sarah Newcomb McClendon (08 jul 1910 – 08 jan 2003 | Tyler TX – Washington DC) journalist, memoirist, political reporter

Lillian Rutstein Roth (13 dec 1910 – 12 may 1980 | Boston MA – New York NY) singer, actress, memoirist, autobiographical author

Gypsy Rose Lee (09 jan 1911 – 26 apr 1970 | Seattle WA – Los Angeles CA) dancer, memoirist, playwright, mystery writer

Edna Marie Faulk Rudisill (13 mar 1911 – 03 nov 2006 | Monroeville AL – Hudson FL) author, memoirist, television personality, aka The Fruitcake Lady

Henrietta Kay [Henny] Backus (21 mar 1911 – 09 dec 2004 | Brooklyn NY – Los Angeles CA) author, memoirist, stage actress

Sybil Virginia Burgess Plumlee (29 apr 1911 – 06 jan 2012 | Seattle WA – Lake Oswego OR) teacher, memoirist, caseworker, police officer

Helen Friedman Blackshear (05 jun 1911 – 12 nov 2003 | Tuscaloosa AL – Tuscaloosa AL) poet, editor, author, teacher, memoirist, biographer, Poet Laureate of Alabama

Ruth Gruber (30 sep 1911 – 17 nov 2016 | Brooklyn NY – Manhattan NY) author, journalist, memoirist, photographer, humanitarian, former US government official

Victoria Horne (01 nov 1911 – 10 oct 2003 | New York NY – Beverly Hills CA) actress, memoirist, philanthropist

Ruth Marguerite McKenney (18 nov 1911 – 25 jul 1972 | Mishawaka IN – New York NY) author, journalist, known for memoir My Sister Eileen, wrote short fiction for The New Yorker 

May Sarton (03 may 1912 – 16 jul 1995 | Wondelgem BE – York ME) poet, novelist, essayist, memoirist, journalist

Barbara Blanchard De Wolfe (14 may 1912 – 02 may 2008 | San Francisco CA – Santa Barbara CA) memoirist, ornithologist, white-crowned sparrow expert, avian life history / physiology researcher

Juanita Redmond Hipps (01 jul 1912 – 25 feb 1979 | South Carolina US – Saint Petersburg FL) author, memoirist, US Army officer, WWII Army nurse

Dale Evans Rogers (31 oct 1912 – 07 feb 2001 | Uvalde TX – Apple Valley CA) singer, author, actress, memoirist, born Lucille Wood Smith

Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon (25 oct 1912 – 04 mar 1996 | Centerville TN – Nashville TN) memoirist, comedienne, aka Minnie Pearl, cookbook writer, autobiographical author

Loretta Gretchen Young (06 jan 1913 – 12 aug 2000 | Salt Lake City UT – Los Angeles CA) actress, memoirist, Catholic charities activist

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (04 feb 1913 – 24 oct 2005 | Tuskegee AL – Detroit MI) African-American, memoirist, civil rights activist, autobiographical author, aka First Lady of Civil Rights / Mother of the Freedom Movement

Agathe Von Trapp (12 mar 1913 – 28 dec 2010 | Pola AH Towson MD) singer, painter, survivor, memoirist, illustrator, kindergarten teacher, music camper founder / director

Grace Bradley Boyd (21 sep 1913 – 20 sep 2010 | Brooklyn NY – Dana Point CA) actress, publicist, memoirist

Marion Downs (26 jan 1914 – 13 nov 2014 | New Ulm MN – Dana Point CA) audiologist, memoirist, pioneered infant hearing testing

Elaine Anderson Steinbeck (14 aug 1914 – 27 apr 2003 | Austin TX – New York NY) actress, memoirist, theater stage manager

Ruth Gikow (06 jan 1915 – 02 apr 1982 | Ukraine – New York NY) Ukrainian-American painter, visual artist, memoirist

Mary Marshall Metcalfe Rexford (22 may 1915 – 02 mar 1996 | St Louis MO – Chesterfield MO) memoirist, WWII Red Cross canteen worker, first woman to land at Normandy

Virginia Komiss Graham (04 jul 1915 – 22 dec 1998 | Chicago IL – New York NY) author, memoirist, television talk show host

Brenda Marshall (29 sep 1915 – 30 jul 1922 | Negros PH – Palm Springs CA) actress, memoirist, aka Ardis Ankerson

Jean Guttery Fritz (16 nov 1915 – 14 may 2017 | Hankow CN – Sleepy Hollow NY) memoirist, autobiographical author, historical / biographical children’s book writer

Toyo Suyemoto (14 jan 1916 – 30 dec 2003 | Oroville CA – Columbus OH) poet, teacher, memoirist, librarian, Japanese-American WWII camp internee

Marie Corinne Morrison Claiborne [Lindy] Boggs (13 mar 1916 – 27 jul 2013 | New Roads LA – Chevy Chase MD) politician, memoirist, ambassador, first LA Congresswoman, first female DNC national chair, née Marie Corinne Morrison Claiborne

Ruth Elizabeth Warrick (29 jun 1916 – 15 jan 2005 | Saint Joseph MO – New York NY) singer, actress, memoirist, political activist

Olivia de Havilland (01 jul 1916 – 26 jul 2020 | Tokyo, Japan – Paris FR) actress, author, memoirist

Jean Rouverol (08 jul 1916 – 24 mar 2017 | St Louis MO – Wingdale NY) author, actress, memoirist, biographer, screenwriter

Margaret Frances [Peg] Lynch (25 nov 1916 – 24 jul 2015 | Lincoln NE – Becket MA) memoirist, radio / television scriptwriter / sitcom creator, one of first US women to single-handedly own, write, and star in her own comedy series

Herta Ware (09 jun 1917 – 15 aug 2005 | Wilmington DE – Topanga CA) actress, memoirist, political activist

Margaret E. [Peg] Mullen (11 jun 1917 – 02 oct 2009 | Pocahontas IA – La Porte City IA) memoirist, anti-war activist

Katharine Meyer Graham (16 jun 1917 – 17 jul 2001 | New York NY – Boise ID) memoirist, newspaper publisher

June Allyson (07 oct 1917 – 08 jul 2006 | Bronx NY – Ojai CA) actress, memoirist, elder activist / advocate, born Ella Geisman

Marsha Virginia Hunt (17 oct 1917 – Chicago IL) actress, fashion author, memoirist

Françoise Aron Ulam (08 mar 1918 – 30 apr 2011 | Paris FR – Santa Fe NM) Polish-American author, memoirist, mathematician, yoga practitioner

Margaret Marian Turner McPartland (20 mar 1918 – 20 aug 2013 | Slough UK – Port Washington NY) author, biographer, memoirist, jazz pianist / composer / television host

Pearl Mae Bailey (29 mar 1918 – 17 aug 1990 | Newport News VA – Philadelphia PA) singer, memoirist, cookbook author, aka America’s Ambassador of Love

Henrietta Boggs (06 may 1918 – 09 sep 2020 | Spartanburg SC – Montgomery AL) author, activist, memoirist, journalist, former First Lady of Costa Rica

Lillian Ross (08 jun 1918 – 20 sep 2017 | Syracuse NY – Manhattan NY author, essayist, memoirist, journalist, born Rosovsky, former staff writer at The New Yorker magazine

Mary Lee Settle (29 jul 1918 – 27 sep 2005 | Charleston WV – Ivy VA) novelist, memoirist, nonfiction author, university professor, founded annual PEN-Faulkner Award for Fiction

Nancy Elizabeth [Betty] Oliphant (05 aug 1918 – 12 jul 2004 | London UK – St Catherines ON) aka Miss O, ballerina, memoirist, National Ballet School of Canada co-founder

Ann Baumgartner Carl (27 aug 1918 – 20 mar 2008 | Augusta GA – Kilmarnock VA) author, aviator, test pilot, memoirist, flight instructor, first US woman to fly jet plane

Elizabeth Ann Bloomer Ford (28 sep 1918 – 08 jul 2011 | Chicago IL – Rancho Mirage CA) memoirist, political figure, social / recovery activist, non-fiction author, women’s rights advocate

Edith Anna Maslin Ronne (13 oct 1919 – 14 jun 2009 | Baltimore MD – Bethesda MD) explorer, aka Jackie, memoirist, first woman working member of Antarctica expedition, Antarctica’s First Lady

Norma Miller (02 dec 1919 – 05 may 2019 | Harlem NY –  Fort Myers FL) actress, swing dancer, memoirist, choreographer, aka Queen of Swing


1920s

Shirley Belle Cole (21 feb 1920 – 12 jan 2010 | Chicago IL – Arizona US) radio actress, memoirist

Kathryn Elizabeth Hohn Adams Doty (15 jul 1920 – 14 oct 2016 | New Ulm MN – Mankato MN) actress, novelist, memoirist

Bella Savitsky Abzug (24 jul 1920 – 31 mar 1998 | New York NY – New York NY) author, activist, attorney, memoirist, feminist leader, aka Battling Bella

Selma Diamond (05 aug 1920 – 13 may 1985 | London ON – Los Angeles CA) Canadian-American memoirist, comic actress, radio / television writer

Melina Amalia Mercouri (18 oct 1920 – 06 mar 1994 | Athens, Greece – New York NY) actress, politician, memoirist, Minister of Culture for Greece

Poldine Demoski Carlo (05 dec 1920 – 09 may 2018 | Nulato, Territory of Alaska – Fairbanks AK) author, memoirist, Alaskan Koyukon Athabaskan elder

Bernice [Bee] Falk Haydu (15 dec 1920 – 30 jan 2021 | Montclair NJ – Montclair NJ) aviator, memoirist, oral historian, women’s advocate, WWII Women Airforce Service Pilot [WASP], independent documentary filmmaker

Madelyn Pugh Davis (15 mar 1921 – 20 apr 2011 | Indianapolis IN – Santa Monica CA) television screenwriter, memoirist, aka Madelyn Pugh Davis, Madelyn Davis, Madelyn Martin

Dorothy Helen Ruth Pirone (07 jun 1921 – 18 may 1989 | New York NY – Durham CT) memoirist, Babe Ruth’s adopted / illegitimate daughter

Nancy Davis Regan (06 jul 1921 – 06 mar 2016 | New York NY – Los Angeles CA) author, actress, memoirist, First Lady of California, US Presidential First Lady, née Anne Frances Robbins

Elizabeth Spencer (19 jul 1921 – 22 dec 2019 | Carrollton MS – Chapel Hill NC) novelist, memoirist, short fiction writer, retired creative writing professor

Betty Reid Charbonnet Soskin (22 sep 1921 – Detroit MI) memoirist, civil rights activist, Unitarian Universalist member, National Park Service Ranger, oldest US National Park Ranger, helped create / assigned to Rosie the Riveter / WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond CA

Priscilla Langford Buckley (17 oct 1921 – 25 mar 2012 | New York NY – Sharon CT) author, memoirist, managing editor of National Review magazine

Dora Jean Dougherty Strother McKeown (27 nov 1921 – 19 nov 2013 | St. Paul MN – Fort Worth TX) pilot, author, memoirist, instructor, oral historian, human factors engineer, demonstration pilot, helicopter test pilot, member Woman Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), PhD in Aviation Education (NYU, 1955), sixth US woman to earn airline transport pilot license

Cyd Charisse (08 mar 1922 – 17 jun 2008 | Amarillo TX – Los Angeles CA) dancer, actress, memoirist, documentarian

Simma Milner Holt (27 mar 1922 – 23 jan 2015 | Vegreville AB – Burnaby BC) author, memoirist, journalist, former politician

Jeanne C. Hurley Simon (10 may 1922 – 20 feb 2000 | Chicago IL – Makanda IL) attorney, memoirist, IL State politician, literacy advocate, Chair of National Commission on Libraries and Information Science

Irene Williams Smith (08 aug 1922 – 24 mar 1955 | Alabama US – Alabama US) author, memoirist, journalist, country music historian / museum founder

Antonia Pantoja (13 sep 1922 – 24 may 2002 | San Juan, Puerto Rico – San Juan, Puerto Rico) feminist, educator, memoirist, social worker, civil rights leader

Liz Smith (02 feb 1923 – 12 nov 2017 | Fort Worth TX – Manhattan NY) author, journalist, memoirist, gossip columnist, cookbook writer, aka The Grand Dame of Dish

Paula Fox (22 apr 1923 – 01 mar 2017 | New York NY – Brooklyn NY) memoirist, children’s / adult novelist

Madeline Lee Gilford (30 may 1923 – 15 apr 2008 | Bronx NY – New York NY) actress, memoirist, social activist, casting director, theater producer

Betty Mae Tiger Jumper (27 apr 1923 – 14 jan 2011 | Indiantown FL – Hollywood Seminole Indian Reservation FL) chief, editor, nurse, memoirist, aka Potackee

Carolyn Cassady (28 apr 1923 – 20 sep 2013 | Lansing MI – Bracknell UK) Beat Generation writer, memoirist

Janette Carter (02 jul 1923 – 22 jan 2006 | Maces Spring VA – Kingsport TN) autoharpist, memoirist, singer-songwriter, Appalachian music preservationist

Margaret [Maggie] Gee Mei Gue (05 aug 1923 – 01 feb 2013 | Berkeley CA – Oakland CA) physicist, memoirist, politician, WWII WASP aviator / trainer

Clara Justine Claiborne Park (19 aug 1923 – 03 jul 2010 | Tarrytown NY – Williamstown NY) author, teacher, memoirist, tutored / self-educated, autism awareness activist

Denise Levertov (24 oct 1923 – 20 dec 1997 | Ilford UK – Seattle WA) British-born US poet, critic, editor, essayist, translator, memoirist, nonfiction author

Nora Eddington (25 feb 1924 – 10 apr 2001 | Chicago IL – Glendale CA) actress, memoirist, autobiographical author

Gertrude [Gert] Lamfrom Boyle (06 mar 1924 – 03 nov 2019 | Augsburg DEU – Portland OR) German-American memoirist, philanthropist, businesswoman, Columbia Sportswear president

Sarah Caldwell (06 mar 1924 – 23 mar 2006 | Maryville MO – Portland ME) child prodigy, musician, memoirist, impresario, stage director, opera conductor

Judith Bailey Jones (10 mar 1924 – 02 aug 2017 | New York NY – Walden VT) editor, author, co-author, memoirist, cookbook specialist

Carol Marcus Matthau (11 sep 1924 – 20 jul 2003 | New York NY – New York NY) actress, novelist, memoirist

Lauren Bacall (16 sep 1924 – 12 aug 2014 | Bronx NY – New York NY) actress, memoirist, autobiographical author

Betty Lee Sung (03 oct 1924 – Baltimore MD) author, activist, memoirist, professor emerita of Asian-American Studies

Sybil Bailey Stockdale (25 nov 1924 – 10 oct 2015 | New Haven CT – Coronado CA) co-memoirist, husband prisoner of war in Vietnam, co-founder / national coordinator of National League of Families, advocate for humane treatment of prisoners of war

Ruth Slenczynska (15 jan 1925 – Sacramento CA) Russian-American pianist, memoirist, non-fiction author, artist-in-residence

Katherine Anne MacLean (22 jan 1925 – 01 sep 2019 | Glen Ridge NJ – US) novelist, memoirist, short fiction / science fiction author

Hazel Jane Dickens (01 jun 1925 – 22 apr 2011 | Mountcalm WV – Washington DC) memoirist, singer-songwriter, union activist, folk / bluegrass musician

Barbara Pierce Bush (08 jun 1925 – 17 apr 2018 | Flushing NY – Houston TX) memoirist, US First Lady, political family matriarch

Adele Carolyn Morales Mailer (12 jun 1925 – 22 nov 2015 | New York NY – New York NY) painter, memoirist

Lois Maureen Stapleton (21 jun 1925 – 13 mar 2006 | Troy NY – Lenox MA) memoirist, film / stage / television actress

Shanna Alexander (06 oct 1925 – 23 jun 2005 | New York NY – Hermosa Beach CA) author, journalist, memoirist

Mary Jacqueline Simon [Jackie] Moore (19 mar 1926 – 11 apr 2002 | Hannibal MO – Strasburg VA) poet, author, memoirist, WWII DuPont chemist

Gloria Jane Kim (28 mar 1926 – feb 1987 | Los Angeles CA – California US) novelist, memoirist, aka Ronyoung Kim, Korean-American

Lee Grant (31 oct 1926 – New York NY) actress, director, memoirist, born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal

Mary Ellin Berlin Barrett (25 nov 1926 – New York NY) novelist, memoirist, book critic, eldest daughter of composer Irving Berlin

Neena Betty Schwartz (10 dec 1926 – 15 apr 2018 | Baltimore MD – Evanston IL) author, feminist, LGBT activist, memoirist, endocrinologist, founding member Association for Women in Science (AWIS), Women in Endocrinology cofounder / president

Eartha Kitt (17 jan 1927 – 25 dec 2008 | North SC – Weston CT) singer, dancer, author, activist, memoirist, comedian, voice artist, née Eartha Mae Keith, German-Cherokee-African-American

Nancy Conners Hanschman Dickerson Whitehead (19 jan 1927 – 18 oct 1997 | Wauwatosa WI – New York NY) memoirist, radio / television news reporter, documentary filmmaker, founded Television Corporation of America, first American female national television news correspondent / program host

Joan Howard Maurer (02 apr 1927 – Brooklyn NY) author, memoirist, biographer,  daughter of Three Stooges Moe Howard

Coretta Scott King (27 apr 1927 – 30 jan 2006 | Heiberger AL – Rosarito Beach, Mexico) author, activist, memoirist, civil rights leader

Miriam Marx Allen (19 may 1927 – 29 jun 2017 | New York NY – Capistrano Beach CA) author, memoirist, daughter of Groucho Marx

Thérèse Renaud (03 jul 1927 – 12 dec 2005 | Montréal QC – Paris FR ) poet, author, painter, memoirist

Janet Leigh (06 jul 1927 – 03 oct 2004 | Merced CA – Los Angeles CA) actress, author, memoirist, autobiographical author, born Jeanette Helen Morrison

Betty Ellen Harper Fussell (28 jul 1927 – Riverside CA)  author, educator, historian, biographer, memoirist, essayist, food / arts / travel writer

Carolyn Brown (26 sep 1927 – Fitchburg MA) dancer, memoirist, choreographer, founding member Merce Cunningham Dance Company

Anita Jean Grilli (13 oct 1927 – Memphis TN) singer, pianist, author, arranger, memoirist, composer, conductor, music producer, aka Anita Kerr

Elizabeth Warnock Fernea (21 oct 1927 – 02 dec 2008 | Milwaukee WI – La Cañada Flintridge CA) writer, memoirist, filmmaker, ethnographer, Middle Eastern scholar

Rosemary Clooney (23 may 1928 – 29 jun 2009 | Maysville KY – Beverly Hills CA) singer, actress, memoirist, autobiographer, founded Rosemary Clooney Musical Festival, co-founded Betty Clooney Foundation for Brain-Injured

Sonia Pressman Fuentes (30 may 1928 – Berlin DEU) author, speaker, attorney, memoirist, feminist leader

Mari-Luci Jaramillo (19 jun 1928 – 20 nov 2019 | Las Vegas NM – Albuquerque NM) author, memoirist, schoolteacher, academic administrator, US Ambassador to Honduras

Marian Seldes (23 aug 1928 – 06 oct 2014 | New York NY – New York NY) memoirist, stage / film / radio / television actress

Muriel Faye [Mickie] Siebert (12 sep 1928 – 24 aug 2013 | Cleveland OH – New York NY) author, memoirist, researcher, philanthropist, aka The First Woman of Finance, advocate for women and minorities in business, first female owner of seat on New York Stock Exchange, first woman to head one of NYSE’s member firms

Valenza Pauline [Paule] Marshall (09 apr 1929 – 12 aug 2019 | Brooklyn NY – Richmond VA) novelist, memoirist

June Carter Cash (23 jun 1929 – 15 may 2003 | Maces Spring VA – Nashville TN) dancer, actress, memoirist, comedian, cookbook author, singer-songwriter, autobiographical author

Joanne Johnson King Herring (03 jul 1929 – Houston TX) socialite, diplomat, memoirist,  philanthropist, businesswoman, political activist, former television talk show host

Barbara Walters (25 sep 1929 – Boston MA) author, essayist, memoirist, broadcast journalist, television host / personality

Marilyn Edwards French (21 nov 1929 – 02 may 2009 | Brooklyn NY – New York NY) novelist, lecturer, professor, memoirist, radical feminist, non-fiction author, anti-patriarchal activist

Marie Elyse St. George (08 dec 1929 – St Catherines ON) poet, artist, art teacher, etcher, painter, lithographer, printmaker, memoirist


1930s

Rita Lakin (24 jan 1930 – US) memoirist, playwright, screenwriter, mystery novelist

Cynthia [Cindy] Heller Adams (24 apr 1930 – New York NY) memoirist, biographer, gossip columnist, Christian Scientist

Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (19 may 1930 – 12 jan 1965 | Chicago IL – New York NY) author, activist, essayist, feminist, journalist, memoirist, playwright, political / civil rights activist, first Black and youngest winner New York Drama Critic Circle Award

Xernona Clayton Brady (30 aug 1930 – Muskogee OK) memoirist, broadcasting executive, civil rights activist / leader

Esther Rudomin Hautzig (18 oct 1930 – 01 nov 2009 | Wilno, Poland [now Vilnius, Lithuania] – New York NY) novelist, memoirist, short fiction writer

Mary Ellen [Meg] Greenfield (27 dec 1930 – 13 may 1999 | Seattle WA – Bainbridge Island WA) columnist, memoirist, editorial writer, Fulbright Scholar, awarded Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing

Judith Viorst (02 feb 1931 – Newark NY) poet, author, journalist, memoirist, psychoanalysis researcher

Livia Bitton-Jackson (28 feb 1931 – Samorin, Czechoslovakia) author, speaker, memoirist, history professor, Holocaust survivor, born Elli I. Friedman

Carroll Baker (28 may 1931 – Johnstown PA) Polish-American actress, novelist, memoirist

Phoebe Burnett Snetsinger (09 jun 1931 – 23 nov 1999 | Lake Zurich IL – Madagascar) birder, memoirist

Loree Rackstraw (27 jun 1931 –  08 may 2018 | Omaha NE – Grinnell IA) memoirist, literary critic, born Lora Lee Pugh, known as Kurt Vonnegut friend / confidant

Padma Desai (12 oct 1931 – Surat IND) author, memoirist, naturalized American, development economist, Russia specialist, professor of comparative economic systems, director of Center for Transition Economies at Columbia University

Ruth Klüger (30 oct 1931 – 06 oct 2020 | Vienna AT – Irvine CA) author, professor, memoirist, Holocaust survivor, pen name: Ruth Angress

Susan Oliver (13 feb 1932 – 10 may 1990 | New York NY – Woodland Hills CA) aviator, actress, memoirist, television director, born Charlotte Gercke

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (27 feb 1932 – 23 mar 2011 | London UK – Los Angeles CA) aceeeetress, author, memoirist

Pauline Oliveros (30 may 1932 – 24 nov 2016 | Houston TX – Kingston NY) author, teacher, composer, memoirist, accordionist, deep listening advocate, electronic music pioneer

Alix Kates Shulman (17 aug 1932 – Cleveland OH) essayist, memoirist, professor, fiction writer, radical feminist, political activist, elder arts community advocate

Shirley Dawn Belaney (23 aug 1932 – 03 jun 1984 | Saskatchewan – Saskatchewan) Canadian author, novelist, memoirist, conservationist, born Rita Ellen

Nora Neng Yee Sung Lam (04 sep 1932 – 02 feb 2004 | Beijing CN – San Jose CA) author, memoirist, Chinese-American Christian minister, founded Nora Lam Ministries International [now World Children’s Fund]

Alicia Esther Lardé Lopez-Harrison Nash (01 jan 1933 – 23 may 2015 | San Salvador, El Salvador – Monroe Township NJ) physicist, memoirist, mental health care advocate, MIT physics graduate (1955: one of 16 women and 800 men), wrote A Beautiful Mind about husband’s / son’s schizophrenia

Barbara Murray Holland (05 apr 1933 – 07 sep 2010 | Washington DC – Bluemont VA) essayist, memoirist, biographical / historical nonfiction author

Jocelyn Elders (13 aug 1933 – Schaal AR) author, professor, pediatrician, memoirist, née Minnie Lee Jones, public health administrator, pro-legalization of marijuana advocate

Jean Anne Carpenter Carnahan (20 dec 1933 – Washington DC) author, activist, politician, memoirist

Judith Campbell Exner (11 jan 1934 – 24 sep 1999 | New York NY – Duarte CA) artist, memoirist, alleged JFK mistress, political folk figure, autobiographical author

Marilyn Horne (16 jan 1934 – Bradford PA) memoirist, autobiographical author, operatic mezzo-soprano, founded Marilyn Horne Foundation, vocal recital preservationist, Voice Program Director at Music Academy of the West (California)

Dolores Dorn Heft (03 mar 1934 – 05 oct 2019 | Chicago IL – New York NY) actress, memoirist, acting teacher at American Film Institute / Lee Strasberg Institute

Vivian Dorraine Liberto Distin (16 apr 1934 – 24 may 2005 | San Antonio TX – Ventura CA) painter, crafts artist, memoirist / autobiographical author

Jane Margaret Burke Byrne (24 may 1934 – 14 nov 2014 | Chicago IL – Chicago IL) memoirist, first / only female Chicago IL Mayor

Marie Dionne (28 may 1934 – 27 feb 1970 | Callendar ON – Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville QC) model, folk figure, memoirist, tourist attraction, aka One of the Dionne Quintuplets

Diane di Prima (06 aug 1934 – 25 oct 2020 | Brooklyn NY – San Francisco CA) poet, artist, author, teacher, memoirist, playwright, prose writer, former Beat poet, social justice activist

Lynn Leon Loscutoff (10 aug 1934 – 16 may 2018 | San Francisco CA – Naples FL) author, painter, teacher, memoirist, innovator, watercolorist, co-founded Camp Evergreen

Jill Ker Conway (09 oct 1934 – 01 jun 2018 | Hillston, Australia – Boston MA) memoirist,  Australian-American, autobiographical author, MIT visiting professor, first female president of Smith College

Joan Didion (05 dec 1934 – Sacramento CA) novelist, essayist, memoirist, literary journalist

Inge Auerbacher (31 dec 1934 – Kippenheim DEU) German-Jewish-American, author, chemist, memoirist, Holocaust survivor

Marina von Neumann Whitman (06 mar 1935 – New York NY) author, economist, professor, memoirist, former automobile company executive

Vivian Gornick (14 jun 1935 – Bronx NY) critic, biographer, essayist, memoirist, non-fiction author

Geraldine Ferraro (26 aug 1935 – 26 mar 2011 | Newburgh NY – Boston MA) author, attorney, politician, memoirist, first female major-party US Vice-Presidential candidate

Etterlene Louise Abbney DeBarge-Rodriguez (13 oct 1935 – Royal Oak MI) memoirist, gospel singer, songwriter, famous family matriarch, aka Mama D

Colleen J. McElroy (31 oct 1935 – St Louis MO) poet, editor, memoirist, short fiction author

Barbara Charline Jordan (21 feb 1936 – 17 jan 1996 | Houston TX – Austin TX) politician, memoirist, civil rights movement leader, first Southern black female US Representative

Ingrid Rimland (22 may 1936 – 12 oct 2017 | Molotschna, Ukraine – Tennessee US) author, activist, novelist, memoirist, child psychologist, Holocaust denier

Jill Schary Robinson (30 may 1936 – Los Angeles CA) teacher, novelist, memoirist, essayist

Diane Aed Rehm (21 sep 1936 – Washington DC) author, memoirist, retired US National Public Radio talk show host, right-to-die activist / advocate / fundraiser

Mary Francine Dorham [Merri] Dee (30 oct 1936 – Chicago IL) civic leader, memoirist, philanthropist, broadcast journalist

Mary Allin Travers (09 nov 1936 – 16 sep 2009 | Louisville KY – Danbury CT) memoirist, folk musician / icon, singer-songwriter

Margaret Ann Schulze (11 nov 1936 – La Crosse WI) memoirist, polio survivor, young adult novelist, pen name: Peg Kehret

Katharine [Kitty] Dickson Dukakis (26 dec 1936 – Cambridge MA) memoirist, political family  member, refugee / children’s activist

Mary Tyler Moore (29 dec 1936 – 25 jan 2017 | Brooklyn NY – Greenwich CT) actress, memoirist, social / political / charitable activist

Toni A. H. McNaron (03 apr 1937 – Alabama US) author, memoirist, literary scholar, professor emerita of English, focus on incest / feminism / LGBT topics

Elaine Katherine Kerr (20 apr 1937 – 01 jul 2019 | Indianapolis IN – Sarasota FL) author, actress, memoirist, playwright, acting teacher

Linda Solomon (10 may 1937 – Boston MA) editor, music critic, memoirist, popular culture commentator

Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (15 may 1937 –  Prague, Czechoslovakia) author, memoirist, US diplomat, politician, born Marie Jana Korbelová, first female US Secretary of State

Sally Claire Kellerman (02 jun 1937 – Long Beach CA) actress, author, memoirist, producer, singer,  voice-over artist

Marilyn Van Derbur (16 jun 1937 – Denver CO) author, incest survivor, motivational speaker, founded Survivor United Network, former Miss Colorado / Miss America, memoir recognized widely as best-written book / text on dissociation

Brenda Bufalino (07 sep 1937 – US) poet, author, teacher, memoirist, choreographer, tap dance artist, mixed-genre artist, co-founded American Tap Dance Foundation [formerly American Tap Dance Orchestra]

Barbara Rosberg Frum (08 sep 1937 – 26 mar 1992 | Niagara Falls NY – Toronto ON) memoirist,  radio / television journalist

Ruth Laredo (20 nov 1937 – 26 may 2005 | Detroit MI – New York NY) US memoirist, classical pianist, aka America’s First Lady of the Piano

Jane Fonda (21 dec 1937 – New York NY) author, actress, memoirist, political activist, fitness guru / filmmaker, aka Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda

Alma Flor Ada (03 jan 1938 – Camagüey, Cuba) Cuban-American poet, author, novelist, memoirist, children’s book author, university professor, bilingual / multicultural education advocate

Helene Antionia Winter von Damm (04 may 1938 – Ulmerfeld AT) US diplomat, memoirist, political figure, former US ambassador

Susan Elizabeth Strasberg (22 may 1938 – 21 jan 1999 | New York NY – New York NY) actress, memoirist, autobiographical author

Carol Ruth Silver (01 oct 1938 – Boston MA) lawyer, memoirist, educator, civil rights activist, original Freedom Rider

Flo Oy Wong (28 oct 1938 – Oakland CA) artist, author, curator, teacher, memoirist, Chinese-American, installation artist

Adrienne Louise Clarkson (10 feb 1939 – British Hong Kong) Chinese-Canadian memoirist, journalist, politician, stateswoman, CBC producer / broadcaster, founded Institute for Canadian Citizenship

Rosemarie Inge Koczy (05 mar 1939 – 12 dec 2007 | Recklinghausen DEU – Croton-on-Hudson NY) painter, teacher, fiber artist, memoirist, Holocaust survivor

Edna Rydzik Buchanan (16 mar 1939 – Paterson NJ) memoirist, journalist, true crime / mystery writer

Lynne Sharon Schwartz (19 mar 1939 – Brooklyn NY) poet, critic, novelist, translator, memoirist

Susan Richards Shreve (02 may 1939 – Toledo OH) editor, novelist, memoirist

Clara Leach Adams-Ender (11 jul 1939 – Willow Springs NC) memoirist, retired US Army officer, management consultant, former chief of US Army Nurse Corps, first black female graduate of US Army War College, first female Master’s graduate in military arts and sciences from US Army Command and General Staff College

Lynda Myles (22 jul 1939 – New York NY) actress, playwright, memoirist, television screenwriter, short fiction writer

Mary Jean [Lily] Tomlin (01 sep 1939 – Detroit MI) writer, actress, comedian, producer, memoirist

Carol Lynn Wright Pearson (27 sep 1939 – Rexburg ID) poet, author, Mormon, playwright, memoirist, screenwriter

Molly Haskell (29 sep 1939 – Charlotte NC) author, memoirist, film professor, feminist film critic

Grace Barnett Wing Slick (30 oct 1939 – Highland Park IL) visual artist, memoirist, singer-songwriter, aka Gracie, The Acid Queen, The Chrome Nun

Lynn Pfeiffer Thomas (20 nov 1939 – 25 aug 2009 | Los Angeles CA – Pinedale WY) artist, blogger, memoirist, photographer

Mary Catherine Bateson (08 dec 1939 – New York NY) author, memoirist, cultural anthropologist


1940s

Haleh Esfandiari (03 mar 1940 – Iran) author, academic, memoirist, Iranian-American, former political prisoner, former director of Middle East Program at Woodrow Wilson International Center, focus on Middle Eastern women’s issues / democratic developments / contemporary Iranian intellectual currents and politics

Margo Lederer Howard (15 mar 1940 – Chicago IL) writer, memoirist, former advice columnist

Susan Fromberg Schaeffer (25 mar 1940 – 26 aug 2011 | Brooklyn NY – Chicago IL) poet, novelist, memoirist, book reviewer

Kim Chernin (07 may 1940 – 17 dec 2020 | Bronx NY – San Francisco CA) poet, feminist, memoirist, pastoral counselor, fiction / nonfiction writer

Nancy Sinatra (08 jun 1940 – Jersey City NJ) singer, actress, biographer, memoirist

Karolyn Grimes (04 jul 1940 – Hollywood CA) speaker, child actress, memoirist, cookbook author

Patricia Nell Scott [Pat] Schroeder (30 jul 1940 – Portland OR) former teacher, memoirist, former state politician, first female elected to Congress in Colorado

Frances [Fran] Krauskopf Conley (12 aug 1940 – Palo Alto CA) memoirist, anti-misogyny activist, neurosurgery professor, first female faculty at Stanford

Raquel Welch (05 sep 1940 – Chicago IL) actress, memoirist, businesswoman, yoga / fitness / beauty author, née Jo Raquel Tejada

Maryse Holder (19 oct 1940 – ?? sep 1977 | Paris FR – Mexico City, Mexico) American feminist, memoirist, murder victim

Barbara Boxer (11 nov 1940 – New York NY) author, novelist, memoirist, former politician, retired US Senator

Maureen Elizabeth Reagan (04 jan 1941 – 08 aug 2001 | Los Angeles CA – Granite Bay CA) memoirist, political family member, Alzheimer’s activist / spokesperson

Gloria Rachel Bloom Allred (03 jul 1941 – Philadelphia PA) memoirist, civil / women’s rights lawyer

Marina Yevseevna Goldovskaya (15 jul 1941 – Moscow RU) director, producer, memoirist, screenwriter, Russian-American, documentary cinematographer, professor at UCLA School of Film and Television

Martha Rose Reeves (18 jul 1941 – Eufaula AL) African-American singer, author, actress, memoirist, councilwoman

Barbara Alexander Ehrenreich (26 aug 1941 – Butte MT) author, memoirist, social critic, political activist, aka veteran muckraker and myth-buster by trade

Melba Joyner Pattillo Beals (07 dec 1941 – Little Rock AR) African-American diarist, memoirist, journalist, Little Rock Nine integration activist

Carole Dawn Reinhart (20 dec 1941 – Roselle NJ) memoirist, trumpet soloist, Fulbright Scholar, retired international master teacher

Carole King (09 feb 1942 – New York NY) memoirist, singer-songwriter

Penny E. Harrington (02 mar 1942 – Lansing MI) author, memoirist, female chief of Portland [Oregon] Police Bureau, first female to head major US police department

Eleanor Millard (04 mar 1942 – North Vancouver BC) novelist, memoirist, former politician, short story writer, kinship / grandparents’ rights activist / leader

Lynn Sherr (04 mar 1942 – Philadelphia PA) feminist, memoirist, broadcast journalist, historical / biographical author

Kate Michelman (04 aug 1942 – US) memoirist, political activist, co-chair of WomenVote PA, former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America

Deidre Nansen McCloskey (11 sep 1942 – Ann Arbor MI) author, memoirist, born Donald N. McCloskey, LGBT rights activist / advocate, distinguished professor of economics, history, English, and communication

Carlotta Walls LaNier (18 dec 1942 – Little Rock AR) African-American, memoirist, youngest member of Little Rock Nine high school integration activist

Janet Sternburg (18 jan 1943 – Boston MA) poet, essayist, memoirist, fine art photographer

Alison Gordon (19 jan 1943 – 12 feb 2015 | New York NY – Toronto ON) author, novelist, memoirist, sports journalist, one of first female reporters to cover sports

Lynn Redgrave (08 mar 1943 – 02 may 2010 | Marylebone UK – Kent CT) actress, author, memoirist

Marion [Mimi] Alford (07 may 1943 – Red Bank NJ) memoirist, political figure, autobiographical author, aka Marion Beardsley Alford, Marion Fahnestock

Eve Babitz (13 may 1943 – Hollywood CA) essayist, memoirist, fiction / non-fiction writer

Joyce Rupp (08 jun 1943 – Iowa US) poet, author, memoirist, religious sister, spiritual midwife, retreat / conference speaker, Institute of Compassionate Presence co-director

Nancy Pedrick Smith Mairs (23 jul 1943 – 03 dec 2016 | Long Beach CA – Tucson AZ) author, memoirist, wrote about spirituality / women’s issues / experiences of living with multiple sclerosis

Susan Cheever (31 jul 1943 – New York NY) author, essayist, historian, memoirist, professor, biographer, focus on families and alcoholism

Carole Penny Marshall (15 oct 1943 – 17 dec 2018 | Bronx NY – Los Angeles CA) actress, director, producer, memoirist

Susan Elizabeth [Suze] Rotolo (20 nov 1943 – 25 feb 2011 | Brooklyn NY – New York NY) book artist, folk figure, memoirist

Julia Miller Phillips (07 apr 1944 – 01 jan 2002 | New York NY – West Hollywood CA) author, memoirist, film producer

Mary Woronov (08 dec 1943 – Palm Beach FL) author, actress, memoirist, figurative painter, aka Mary Might, Mary Pfft, Mary Whitehead, Mary Gershunny, Mary Woronoff

Gladys Knight (28 may 1944 – Atlanta GA) author, memoirist, LDS convert, humanitarian, singer-songwriter, aka Empress of Soul

Eugenia Zukerman (25 sep 1944 – Cambridge MA) flutist, novelist, memoirist, journalist, arts biographer, non-fiction author, classical music correspondent

Joanne Schultz Frye (06 nov 1944 – South Bend IN) author, memoirist, professor emerita of English and women’s studies, specialist in feminist literary criticism and interdisciplinary inquiry into motherhood

Susan Gubar (30 nov 1944 – Brooklyn NY) author, blogger, feminist, biographer, memoirist, cancer survivor, women’s studies distinguished professor emerita

Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson (14 jan 1945 – Brooklyn NY) author, memoirist, indicted / jailed / released as bombmaker, civil rights / women’s rights activist, former member of radical Weather Underground Organization

María de Lourdes [Mia] Villiers Farrow (09 feb 1945 – Los Angeles CA) actress, memoirist, humanitarian

Michele Rose McBride (05 apr 1945 – 04 jul 2001 | Chicago IL – Chicago IL) memoirist, burn survivor, established Phoenix Program for burn survivors / families

Rita Coolidge (01 may 1945 – Lafayette TN) singer, painter, memoirist, songwriter, recording artist, founding member of Walela Cherokee / Native American music trio

Susan Jane Berman (18 may 1945 – 23 dec 2000 | Minneapolis MN – Los Angeles CA) author, journalist, memoirist, murder victim

Susan Jacoby (04 jun 1945 – New York NY) atheist, author, memoirist

Laura Kalpakian (28 jun 1945 – Long Beach CA) author, memoirist, aka Juliet Fitzgerald and Carenna Jane Greye

Reeve Morrow Lindbergh (02 oct 1945 – Connecticut US) author, farmer, former teacher, children’s book writer, memoirist, member of famous Lindbergh family

Ellie Mathews (22 oct 1945 – Port Angeles WA) memoirist, children’s author, young adult novelist, cartographer, graphic artist, prize-winning cook

Verandah Porche (08 nov 1945 – Teaneck NJ) poet, author, memoirist, born Linda Jacobs, founding member Total Loss Farm ongoing commune in Guilford VT

Susanna Moore (09 dec 1945 – Bryn Mawr PA) author, actress, memoirist, production designer, costume designer

Dolly Rebecca Parton (19 jan 1946 – Sevier County TN) actress, memoirist, singer-songwriter, philanthropist, instrumentalist, children’s book author

Patricia [Tricia] Nixon Cox (21 feb 1946 – Whittier CA) memoirist, former US Presidential family member, board member for medical research institutions and the Richard Nixon Foundation at the Nixon Library

Mary Tabor (03 mar 1946 – Baltimore MD) novelist, memoirist, professor, short fiction writer, radio show host

Patricia Hampl (12 mar 1946 – St Paul MN) author, memoirist, lecturer, educator, Loft Literary Center founding member

Felicity Isabelle [Flick] Colby (23 mar 1946 – 26 may 2011 | Hazleton PA – Clinton NY) dancer, memoirist, choreographer

Candice Bergen (09 may 1946 – Beverly Hills CA) actress, essayist, producer, playwright, memoirist, photographer, political activist

Nancy Gertner (22 may 1946 – New York NY) blogger, memoirist, former US Federal Judge

Kay Redfield Jamison (22 jun 1946 – United States) author, memoirist, mental health activist, clinical psychologist, autobiographical author

Gilda Radner (28 jun 1946 – 20 may 1989 | Detroit MI – Los Angeles CA) actress, comedian, memoirist, cancer awareness advocate

Linda Marie Ronstadt (15 jul 1946 – Tucson AZ) singer, activist, actress, musician, memoirist, songwriter, record producer

Lucinda Franks (16 jul 1946 – Chicago IL) journalist, memoirist, magazine writer, former staff writer for New York Times, youngest winner of Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting

Marilyn March vos Savant (11 aug 1946 – St Louis MO) author, playwright, memoirist, magazine  columnist

Marilyn Stablein (22 aug 1946 – Los Angeles CA) poet, author, essayist, memoirist, fiction / travel writer, mixed media artist, altered book artist, performance artist

Catherine Hiller (16 nov 1946 – New York NY) author, memoirist, filmmaker, political activist, 50 year-plus cannabis advocate

Ruth Whipple Crocker (10 dec 1946 – Mystic CT) author, essayist, memoirist

Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs [Cokie] Roberts (27 dec 1946 – 17 sep 2019 | New Orleans LA – Washington DC) author, journalist, memoirist, political commentator, NPR senior news analyst

Patricia Lee [Patti] Smith (30 dec 1946 – Chicago IL) poet, memoirist, visual artist, singer-songwriter, children’s book author

Diane von Fürstenberg (31 dec 1946 – Brussels, Belgian) Belgian-American author, memoirist, fashion icon / designer, née Diane Simone Michelle Halfin, formerly Princess Diane of Fürstenberg

Leilani [Lani] Hall (06 nov 1945 – Chicago IL) poet, singer, author, lyricist, memoirist, producer, short fiction writer

Marion Alice Coburn [M. A. C.] Farrant (05 apr 1947 – Sydney, Australia) Canadian memoirist, journalist, humorist, short fiction writer

Susan E. King (15 apr 1947 – Lexington KY) artist, author, educator, ceramicist, memoirist, travel writer

Geralyn Wolf (30 apr 1947 – Brooklyn NY) essayist, memoirist, anthem writer, wood carver, twelfth diocesan bishop of Diocese of Rhode Island’s Episcopal Church

Mary Morris (13 may 1947 – Chicago IL) professor, memoirist, travel writer, short fiction author

Susan McCaslin (03 jun 1947 – BC Canada) poet, editor, author, essayist, educator,  memoirist, essayist, children’s author, creative nonfiction writer

Meredith Ann Baxter (21 jun 1947 – South Pasadena CA) actress, producer, memoirist

Luci Baines Johnson (02 jul 1947 – Washington DC) memoirist, cookbook author, political family member

Joyce Dyer (20 jul 1947 – Akron OH) memoirist, biographer, nonfiction author

Laura Nyro (18 oct 1947 – 08 apr 1997 | Bronx NY – Danbury CT) author, lyricist, pianist, vocalist, composer, memoirist

Maureen Seaton (20 oct 1947 – Elizabeth NJ) LGBT poet, activist, memoirist, professor of English

Kate Clinton (09 nov 1947 – Buffalo NY) author, LGBT activist, memoirist, gay / lesbian comedian

Yvonne Thornton (21 nov 1947 – New York NY) African-American musician, memoirist, non-fiction author, ob-gyn / fetal / maternal physician

Helen Epstein (27 nov 1947 – Prague, Czechoslovakia) Czech-American journalist, biographer, memoirist

Wendy Gaynor (31 dec 1947 – US) author, baker, memoirist, columnist, entrepreneur, traumatic brain injury activist / fundraiser

Judith Miller (02 jan 1948 – New York NY) memoirist, journalist, nonfiction author, conservative, commentator, member Council on Foreign Relations

Joyce Judith Wadler (02 jan 1948 – US) writer, humorist, reporter, journalist, memoirist, contributing editor, breast and ovarian cancer survivor

Ruth Reichl (16 jan 1948 – New York NY) chef, novelist, memoirist, food writer, cookbook author, culinary editor, last editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine

Isabella Russell-Ides (24 jan 1948 – Texas US) poet, playwright, memoirist

Jessica B. Harris (18 mar 1948 – Queens NY) memoirist, journalist, professor, cookbook author, culinary historian

Esmeralda Santiago (17 may 1948 – San Juan, Puerto Rico) author, novelist, activist, memoirist

Marilyn Lacey (11 jul 1948 – San Francisco CA) memoirist, Sister of Mercy, social worker, refugee activist, founder / executive director Mercy Beyond Borders

Jeanne Córdova (18 jul 1948 – 10 jan 2016 | Bremerhaven DEU – Los Angeles CA) memoirist, LGBTQ activist / organizer

Aline Goldsmith Kominsky-Crumb (01 aug 1948 – Long Beach NY) artist, inker, editor, writer, painter, penciller, cartoonist, graphic memoirist, underground comics artist

Sue Monk Kidd (12 aug 1948 – Sylvester GA) novelist, feminist, memoirist

Carol Ann Bartz (28 aug 1948 – Winona WI) author, memoirist, business executive, former CEO / president of Yahoo!

Bonnie Linda Caputo Tiburzi (31 aug 1948 – Connecticut US) aviator, memoirist, first female pilot for American Airlines / for any major US commercial airline, first woman in the world to earn Flight Engineer rating on turbo-jet aircraft

Margaret Joan Sinclair Trudeau (10 sep 1948 – Vancouver BC) author, actress, memoirist, photographer, television show host, former First Lady of Canada

Adrian Margaret Smith Piper (20 sep 1948 – New York NY) author, art critic, memoirist, conceptual artist, philosophy professor

Susanna Kaysen (11 nov 1948 – Cambridge MA) author, memoirist

Angela Marie [Bay] Buchanan (23 dec 1948 – Washington DC) LDS, author, memoirist, biographer, former US Treasurer, conservative political commentator

Anne F. Beiler (16 jan 1949 – Lancaster County PA) memoirist, Old Order Amish, businesswoman, autobiographical author, Auntie Anne’s Pretzels founder

Mabelle [Mab] Massey Segrest (20 feb 1949 – Alabama US) feminist author, activist, memoirist

Dorothy Karen [Cookie] Mueller (02 mar 1949 – 10 nov 1998 | Baltimore MD – New York NY) author, actress, memoirist, art critic, journalist, health columnist, short fiction writer

Meredith Hall (25 mar 1949 – New Hampshire US) author, professor, essayist, memoirist

Jamaica Kincaid (25 may 1949 – St. John’s, Antigua) novelist, memoirist, essayist, gardener, gardening writer, Antiguan-American, born Elaine Cynthia Potter Richardson, professor of African and American Studies in Residence at Harvard

Alma Guillermoprieto (27 may 1949 – Mexico City, Mexico) author, journalist, memoirist

Jane A. Bernstein (10 jun 1949 – Brooklyn NY) writer, novelist, memoirist, screenwriter

Gail Harris (23 jun 1949 – East Orange NJ) memoirist, intelligence consultant, contributing non-fiction author, first black female US Navy Squadron intelligence officer

Cyndy Truhan Garvey (16 jul 1949 – Detroit MI) memoirist, television personality

Norah O’Neill (23 aug 1949 – 22 sep 2017 | Seattle WA – Seattle WA) artist, memoirist, first licensed female Alaskan pilot, women’s aviator activist / mentor / pioneer

Angela Alioto (20 oct 1949 – San Francisco CA) attorney, politician, memoirist, political family member, Secular Franciscan Order member, Knights of Francis at Porziuncola Nuova founder

Susan [Sue] Hendrickson (02 dec 1949 – Chicago IL) author, memoirist, paleontologist, marine archeologist

Mary Catherine Gordon (08 dec 1949 – Far Rockaway NY) novelist, professor, memoirist,  literary critic

Marie Harriet Brenner (15 dec 1949 – San Antonio TX) author, memoirist, investigative journalist, magazine writer-at-large


1950s

Patricia Cleveland (23 jun 1950 – New York NY) memoirist, supermodel, Siddha yoga devotee

Marianne Boruch (19 jun 1950 – Chicago IL) poet, essayist, memoirist

Carolyn Marsden (14 aug 1950 – Mexico City MX) artist, memoirist, young adult fiction writer

May Fung Yee Pang (24 oct 1950 – New York NY) author, memoirist, jewelry designer, personal assistant, production coordinator

Margaret Jane Pauley (31 oct 1950 – Indianapolis IN) author, television anchor, memoirist, broadcast journalist

Mary Swander (05 nov 1950 – Carroll IA) poet, author, memoirist, professor, former Poet Laureate of Iowa, founded website The Iowa Literary Community

Rae Yang (01 dec 1950 – People’s Republic of China) author, memoirist, professor of Chinese Language and Literature

Gail Caldwell (20 jan 1951 – Amarillo TX) book critic, columnist, memoirist, Pulitzer Prize winner for Criticism

Roxanne Renckens Pulitzer (10 feb 1951 – Cassadaga NY) actress, novelist, memoirist

Susan Musgrave (12 mar 1951 – Santa Cruz CA) American-Canadian poet, memoirist, children’s writer, fiction/non-fiction author, creative writing professor

Ceil Kovac Lucas (19 mar 1951 – US) author, linguist, memoirist, professor emerita of linguistics

Norma Jean Almodovar (27 may 1951 – Binghamton NY) author, memoirist, sex worker activist

Susan L. Williams (21 jun 1951 – 24 apr 2018 | US – Petaluma CA) author, memoirist, marine biologist, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology

Anne Garrels (02 jul 1951 – Springfield MA) memoirist, broadcast journalist, war correspondent

Ivy Eberhart Bannister (11 jul 1951 – New York NY) poet, memoirist, short fiction writer

Maureen Anne McTeer (27 feb 1952 – Ottawa ON) author, lawyer, memoirist, Canadian political family member

Jane Anne Gallop (04 may 1952 – Duluth MN) author, editor, essayist, professor, memoirist, biographer

Jill Nelson (14 jun 1952 – Harlem NY) journalist, memoirist, nonfiction author, journalism professor, autobiographical author

Julie Kane (20 jul 1952 – Boston MA) poet, editor, scholar, memoirist, Louisiana Poet Laureate

Eden Collinsworth (04 aug 1952 – US) publisher, magazine founder, novelist, memoirist, nonfiction author, international businesswoman, intercultural communication specialist

Crescent Dragonwagon (25 nov 1952 – New York NY) poet, novelist, biographer, memoirist, cookbook author, magazine writer, children’s book writer, born Ellen Zolotow, literary family member, literary executor for parents Charlotte Zolotow and Maurice Zolotow

Gelsey Kirkland (29 dec 1952 – Bethlehem PA) ballerina, memoirist, children’s book co-author

Linda Gray Sexton (21 jul 1953 – Newton MA) editor, author, novelist, memoirist, literary family member

Anne Fadiman (07 aug 1953 – New York NY) reporter, essayist, memoirist, professor, autobiographical author

Rita Rudner (17 sep 1953 – Miami FL) author, actress, memoirist, comedienne

Patty Dann (30 oct 1953 – New York NY) novelist, memoirist, nonfiction writer

Daphne Joyce Maynard (05 nov 1953 – Durham NH) novelist, memoirist, journalist, former syndicated columnist

Linda A. Morabito (21 nov 1953 – Vancouver BC) memoirist, astronomer, PTSD survivor, EMDR advocate, aka Linda Kelly, Linda Hyder, Linda Morabito-Meyer

Ji-li Jiang (02 feb 1954 – Shanghai CN) Chinese-American writer, memoirist, science teacher

Shari Karney (02 feb 1954 – US) author, attorney, memoirist, public speaker, incest-survivor activist, bar exam review company owner

Phyllis Curott (08 feb 1954 – Lynbrook NY) aka Aradia, Wiccan author, attorney, priestess, memoirist

Patricia Campbell [Patty Hearst] Shaw (20 feb 1954 – San Francisco CA) actress, heiress, novelist, memoirist, children’s AIDS activist / fundraiser, convicted of bank robbery, kidnapped / indoctrinated by Symbionese Liberation Army [SLA]

Heidi Neumark (09 mar 1954 – Summit NJ) pastor, memoirist, storyteller, spiritual author

Anne Lamott (10 apr 1954 – San Francisco CA) activist, novelist, essayist, memoirist, nonfiction writer

Mary Kathleen Turner (19 jun 1954 – Springfield MO) singer, actress, memoirist, theater director, social / political activist, rheumatoid arthritis awareness advocate

Diane Schoemperlen (09 jul 1954 – Thunder Bay ON) novelist, memoirist, short fiction writer

Carleton [Carly] Fiorina (06 sep 1954 – Austin TX) memoirist, groundbreaking businesswoman, née Cara Carleton Sneed

Ruby Bridges Hall (08 sep 1954 – Tylertown MS) memoirist, civil rights activist, first black child in all-white Southern elementary school

Elizabeth Potok Ehrlich (12 oct 1954 – Detroit MI) author, biographer, memoirist, journalism professor

Mary Karr (16 jan 1955 – Texas US) poet, feminist, essayist, memoirist, Guggenheim Fellow, pro-choice / pro-women’s ordination Catholic convert

Janice Doreen Dickinson (16 feb 1955 – Brooklyn NY) author, model, memoirist, talent scout, photographer

Valerie Elliott Shepard (27 feb 1955 – Shell Mera, Ecuador) author, memoirist, children’s author, Christian activist

Erica Hunt (12 mar 1955 – Manhattan NY) poet, essayist, professor, organizer, memoirist, Language poet, non-fiction author, literary critic, political activist

Cynthia McKinney (17 mar 1955 – Atlanta GA) author, memoirist, politician, civil rights activist, first black woman from Georgia elected to US House of Representatives, Green Party presidential candidate [2008]

Debra Winger (16 may 1955 – Cleveland Heights OH) actress, memoirist, film producer

Jill Climent (20 may 1955 – Montreal QC) novelist, memoirist, professor, Canadian-born American

Rosanne Cash (24 may 1955 – Memphis TN) author, memoirist, singer-songwriter

Cathie Beck (03 aug 1955 – Fort Dodge IA) journalist, memoirist, short fiction writer

Katherine Russell Rich (17 nov 1955 – 03 apr 2012 | Bryn Mawr PA –  New York NY) memoirist, cancer survivor, autobiographical author

Margaret Ann [Peggy] Salinger (10 dec 1955 – New York NY) actress, memoirist, literary family member

Carol Browner (16 dec 1955 – Miami FL) lawyer, memoirist, environmentalist, businesswoman

Stacy Horn (03 jun 1956 – Norfolk VA) memoirist, journalist, non-fiction author, online bulletin board founder

Lisa Glasberg (06 jun 1956 – Woodmere NY) author, memoirist, radio news personality

Emily Lyons (18 jul 1956 – Montgomery AL) nurse, author, memoirist, abortion rights activist, injured in abortion clinic bombing in Birmingham AL

Geri Jewell (13 sep 1956 – Buffalo NY) actress, memoirist, autobiographical author

Lucette Lagnado (19 sep 1956 – 10 jul 2019 | Cairo, Egypt – Manhattan NY) author, memoirist, journalist, senior special writer for The Wall Street Journal

Valerie June Bowman Jarrett (14 nov 1956 – Shiraz, Iran) memoirist, businesswoman, former US government official, former senior advisor to US President Obama, co-chair of Obama-Biden Transition Project

Karen Parfitt Hughes (27 dec 1956 – Paris FR) American author, memoirist, breast cancer research activist, former television news reporter, public relations professional, former Texas press coordinator for Reagan-Bush campaign

Jennifer Brunner (05 feb 1957 – Springfield OH) politician, memoirist, first female Ohio Secretary of State

Cindy Lee Miller Sheehan (10 jul 1957 – Inglewood CA) author, memoirist, tax resister, radio show host, anti-war / political activist, member / candidate for Peace and Freedom Party in California

Cecile Richards (15 jul 1957 – Waco TX) essayist, memoirist, pro-choice activist, past president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Ford Foundation board member

Connie Schultz (21 jul 1957 – Ashtabula OH) author, journalist, memoirist, nationally syndicated columnist, journalism professor, Pulitzer Prize for Commentary winner

Katherine Ellison (19 aug 1957 – Minnesota US) editor, author, columnist, memoirist, speechwriter, motherhood / progressive education advocate, Pulitzer Prize co-laureate for International Reporting

Francine Joy [Fran] Drescher (30 sep 1957 – Queens NY) comedian, memoirist, producer, film / television actress, rape survivor, cancer survivor, anti-cancer activist

Kathleen Finneran (03 dec 1957 – St Louis MO) author, essayist, memoirist, professor, creative writing workshop leader

Cathleen Ann [Cathy] O’Brien (04 dec 1957 – Muskegon MI) author, memoirist, conspiracy theorist

Sheila Escovedo (12 dec 1957 – Oakland CA) singer, actress, memoirist, social activist, percussionist, aka Sheila E. and The Queen of Percussion

Marusya Bociurkiw (25 may 1958 – Edmonton AB) Ukrainian-Canadian poet, activist, novelist, memoirist, professor, filmmaker, film director, short fiction author, media studies scholar, media organizations founder and co-founder

Alicia Armendariz (07 nov 1958 – Los Angeles CA) author, educator, musician, memoirist, aka Alice Bag, punk rock singer, feminist archivist

Melany Neilson (01 dec 1958 – Moses Lake WA) novelist, memoirist

Pleasant Gehman (17 mar 1959 – Hollywood CA) poet, author, dancer, actress, musician, memoirist, aka Princess Farhana

Nancy Goodman (09 apr 1959 – Evanston IL) author, director, memoirist, screenwriter, focus on emotional eating disorders

Victoria Lynn Rowell (10 may 1959 – Portland ME) actress, dancer, memoirist, foster care activist

Dorothy [Doro] Walker Bush Koch (18 aug 1959 – Harris County TX) memoirist, philanthropist, former US Presidential family member

Sheri Salata (20 oct 1959 – Georgia US) producer, memoirist, co-founder / president of Story brand / media company, former co-owner Oprah Winfrey Network [OWN]

Caroline Knapp (08 nov 1959 – 03/04 jun 2002 | Cambridge MA – Cambridge MA) author, essayist, memoirist, Boston Phoenix columnist

Amy Dickinson (06 nov 1959 – Freeville NY) memoirist, social commentator, television news producer, syndicated newspaper advice columnist

Donna Lease Brazile (15 dec 1959 – Kenner LA) author, academic, memoirist, cookbook author, political analyst / commentator