Women in Literature

Women in literature, writing, editing, publishing, illustrating, women poets, novelists and more!

Humphreys, Josephine | South Carolina Public Radio

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8

"H" is for Humphreys, Josephine (b. 1945). Novelist. Born in Charleston, Humphreys graduated from Duke and obtained an M.F.A. from Yale. In 1970, she began teaching at Baptist College in Charleston...

Hyer, Helen von Kolonitz | South Carolina Public Radio

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8

"H" is for Hyer, Helen von Kolonitz (1896-1983). Poet, writer. While still in her teens, Hyer published her first poems. She joined the Poetry Society in 1920. Her first poetry collection, Santee...

Patti Callahan Henry

Video

Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Meet Patti Callahan Henry, “the Fresh Face of Southern Literature.” Patti’s path to writing is unique. She started her adult life as a nurse, and found herself writing after she found out her daughter...

Sue Monk Kidd

Video

Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Meet Sue Monk Kidd, author of “The Secret Life Of Bees.” With over six million copies of her novel sold, along with a major motion picture, Monk became a literary sensation. Monk briefly talks about...

Mary Alice Monroe

Video

Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Meet Mary Alice Monroe, whose best-selling novels nearly all share a dominant, lowcountry theme. She has written ten best-selling novels, but it was not until she moved to the Isle of Palms...

Frankenstein Inspired By Real Events In Author's Life | South Carolina Focus

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Frankenstein is a classic of fiction, movies, and other media, and also a Halloween staple. The novel has not been out of print in the two centuries since it was published in 1818. USC English...

Pat Conroy's Unique Writing Style | Walter Edgar's Journal

Episode 7

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

In this segment, Cassandra King talks about her relationship to Pat Conroy as writers, and discusses more in depth about his unique writing style.

Pat Conroy's "Literary Immortality" | Walter Edgar's Journal

Episode 9

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Cassandra King, and Pat Conroy’s brother, Tim, read letters from Pat Conroy. In the letters, Pat Conroy honors his mother, his friends from The Citadel who went to fight in Vietnam, and the love for...

Honoring Pat Conroy | Walter Edgar's Journal

Episode 2

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

In this segment, Cassandra King discusses how various people from all parts of Pat Conroy’s life wanted to honor him after his passing.

Pat Conroy's Unfinished Novel | Walter Edgar's Journal

Episode 5

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Cassandra King talks about Pat Conroy’s unfinished novel. He wrote over two hundred pages for this book, but passed away before it could be completed.

A Public Conversation With Cassandra King About Pat Conroy (Full Version)

Episode 10

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

In the Fall of 2016, the Newberry Opera House, in partnership with the Pat Conroy Literary Center, presented a special night in honor of the late author, Pat Conroy. The evening featured Conroy's...

Found: Mary Chesnut's Civil War Photo Albums (Full Version)

Episode 4

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Mary Chesnut’s diary, originally published forty years after the Civil War as Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, is generally acknowledged today as the finest literary work of the Confederacy. Spiced by the...

The Early Days of Photography | Walter Edgar's Journal

Episode 1

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

In the first segment on Mary Chesnut’s photo album, Harvey Teal details the earliest days of photography, and describes the various types of photographs: daguerreotype, amber type, Carte de Visite...

The Album's Journey | Walter Edgar's Journal

Episode 2

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Walter Edgar discusses with Martha Daniels and Henry Fulmer about references made to the photo album found in Mary Chesnut’s diary, along with references found in the South Caroliniana Library’s...

A Woman Ahead Of Her Time | Walter Edgar's Journal

Episode 3

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Martha Daniels analyzes the albums’ “Panoramic Breadth,” and how Mary Chesnut was an educated woman ‘ahead of her time.’ Along with photos of famous Southerners, the albums also feature photographs of...

The Relationship Of Mary and James Chesnut | Walter Edgar's Journal

Episode 5

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Walter Edgar and Dr. Stern analyze the long-lasting and prosperous relationship between Mary Chesnut, and her husband, James.

Mary Chesnut's Scrapbook | Walter Edgar's Journal

Episode 2

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Dr. Julia Stern discusses writing her book Mary Chesnut’s Civil War Epic, and recounts meeting the descendants of Mary Chesnut, along with seeing Chesnut’s personal photo album, containing photos of...

The Shift In Cultural Weather | Walter Edgar's Journal

Episode 3

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Dr. Stern goes into the South’s reaction to the Witherspoon Murder, and how people in the South were cautious regarding the threat of slave rebellions. She then analyzes Mary Chesnut’s use of the...

The Feuds | Walter Edgar's Journal

Episode 6

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

In this segment on Mary Chesnut’s diary, Dr. Stern discusses the feuds between Joe Johnston and Jefferson Davis, along with one between Mary Chesnut and Lucy Pickens. Dr. Stern finishes this segment...

Mary Chesnut On Emancipation | Walter Edgar's Journal

Episode 7

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

With this final segment on Mary Chesnut’s diary, Dr. Stern talks about Mary Chesnut’s take on emancipation, and how it turned Southern societal norms upside down.

Conversations On the Civil War - 1863: Mary Chesnut's Civil War (Full Version)

Episode 8

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Julia Stern, professor of English and American Studies at Northwestern University and author of Mary Chesnut's Civil War Epic, will "unpack the way in which at levels domestic, historical and epic...

Mary Chesnut: The Creative Writer | Walter Edgar's Journal

Episode 4

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Dr. Stern talks about Mary Chesnut’s unique style of writing; using literary analogues, letters, and her “brushes with greatness,” to recreate her memories of the Civil War in her diary.

The Evolution of Mary Chesnut's Diary | Walter Edgar's Journal

Episode 1

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

In this first segment, Walter Edgar talks with Dr. Julia Stern about how Mary Chesnut’s diary has evolved with its three editions, since it was first published.

McCray, Carrie Allen | South Carolina Public Radio

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8

"M" is for McCray, Carrie Allen [1913-2009] Poet. Author.