Women writing poetry, drama, proto-novels and novels before the 1800s.

Long before Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters began writing there had been female poets, playwrites and novelists. From Sappho in ancient Greece, to Murasaki Shikibu in Japan's 10th century court, writing arguably one of the first novels in the world. The renaissance writers of Italy, many of whom where courtesans. The French ladies of the salon writing impossibly long stories. Lastly English writers such as Aphra Behn and Eliza Haywood who wrote around the same period as Daniel Defoe, yet have failed to gain the same reputation as the 'inventor of the English novel'.

Only fiction books written during the time period allowed. For non-fiction writing check out the lists "Querelle des femmes" , "From Adam's Rib" or "Early Feminists" .