Rain (2004), which relates her retreat to an island with no electricity or telephone
while experiencing midlife changes, and To Love What Is (2008), about caring for
her husband after a life-altering brain injury.
Sonia Singh (? – )
Daughter of immigrants from India who is the author of the popular novels
Goddess For Hire (2004), Bollywood Conf idential (2005), and Ghost, Interrupted
(2007).
Jane Smiley (1949– )
Fiction writer whose novel A Thousand Acres (1991) won the Pulitzer Prize. Her
other works include The Age of Grief (1987), The Greenlanders (1988), Ordinary
Love and Good Will (1989), Moo (1995), The All-True Travels and Adventures of
Lidie Newton (1998), Horse Heaven (2000), Good Faith (2003), Thirteen Ways of
Looking at the Novel (2005), Ten Days in the Hills (2007), and The Georges and the
Jewels (2009).
Cathy Song (1955– )
Poet whose first collection, Picture Bride (1983), was selected for the Yale Series of
Younger Poets. Her other works include Frameless Windows, Squares of Light (1988),
School Figures (1994), The Land of Bliss (2001), and Cloud Moving Hands (2007).
Susan Sontag (1933–2004)
Human-rights activist and writer whose works include the novels The Volcano
Lover (1992) and In America (2001), the collection of short stories I, Etcetera
(1978), the play Alice in Bed (1993), and the nonfiction collections On Photog-
raphy (1977), Illness As Metaphor (1978), AIDS and Its Metaphors (1989), Where
the Stress Falls (2001), Regarding the Pain of Others (2003), and At the Same Time:
Essays and Speeches (2007).
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (1942– )
Indian American translator, literary critic, and theorist best known for her essay
“Can the Subaltern Speak?” (1988), a foundational text in postcolonial studies.
Gloria Steinem (1934– )
Feminist activist, writer, and founder of Ms. magazine. Her books include Outra-
geous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983), Marilyn: Norma Jean (1986), Revolution
from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem (1992), and Moving beyond Words (1994).
Amy Tan (1952– )
Chinese American writer whose novel The Joy Luck Club (1989) spent eight
months on The New York Times best-seller list. She has also published the novels
The Kitchen God ’s Wife (1991), The Hundred Secret Senses (1995), and The Boneset-
ter’s Daughter (2001); the children’s books The Moon Lady (1992) and Sagwa: The
Chinese Siamese Cat (2001); and the essay collection The Opposite of Fate: A Book
of Musings (2003).
Luci Tapahonso (1953– )
Diné (Navajo) poet and professor of American Indian Studies and English at the
University of Arizona. Her works include The Seasonal Woman (1982), A Breeze