Have you ever dreamed about meeting some of your favorite
authors? Or thought about how amazing it would be to hear them speak about
their books, characters and life in person? I think about this ALL the time
when I’m reading a book by an author that I really love.
Recently, I was inspired by Eventbrite to come up with a
dream author panel. No limitations – if I could put anyone together in a room,
who would it be? Sign me up.
Eventbrite has a great tool on their website to help anyone
plan and execute events in their local areas. With an awesome tool like this,
maybe some of these dream author panels really can come true!
I thought a lot about who I would want on this panel and it
was not an easy choice. I finally decided though that if I had this ONE shot, I
would want to see a panel full of bad-ass female authors. Remember, there are
no limitations with this so, it’s really not a lot that I’m asking for some of these
authors to come back to life for this event.
Here are my choices:
Virginia Woolf
Woolf is one of my absolute most favorite female authors of
all-time. She was such a free-thinking, influential author of her time that I
just can’t help but be inspired by her. To imagine hearing this woman who gave
us the quote, “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write
fiction” in person…I would not be able to contain my excitement.
Margaret Mitchell
Mitchell is not quite the same feminist powerhouse that
these other authors are but I couldn’t leave her out of this. Gone With the
Wind is my favorite book and I would love to see her in the company of these
other powerful women. Mitchell was much more understated in her rebellion and
dealt with a lot of struggles in her short life, including spousal abuse. I
believe, that rather than incorporate feminist themes in her work, she
preferred to offer a more romantic view of life and love to fill those gaps she
had in her own life.
Jane Austen
It’s hard sometimes to remember that Austen was writing
novels during the late 1700’s. She consistently pushed the boundaries with
strong female characters who challenged the social and economic status of
women. It’s not surprising that her characters, themes and messages have stood
the test of time and ring true still to this day.
Toni Morrison
There is no denying Morrison’s influence as an author. She
wrote novels with complex, rich characters and deep, meaningful themes. There’s
also no doubt that she is a strong, opinionated woman. However, she is careful
to somewhat distance herself from the term feminism and offered up a different
view on her writing when she said “In order to be as free as I possibly can, in
my own imagination, I can't take positions that are closed. Everything I've
ever done, in the writing world, has been to expand articulation, rather than
to close it, to open doors, sometimes, not even closing the book – leaving the
endings open for reinterpretation, revisitation, a little ambiguity."
Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid’s Tale is one of Atwood’s most popular novels
and due to the recent social and political climate in America, it’s been making
a resurgence. Atwood consistently portrays female characters in her novels that
are held down by an overpowering patriarchal society. However, it appears that
Atwood prefers to take a more “realistic” approach to her world than a feminist
one. Regardless of how you coin her, Atwood absolutely tackles gender and
societal issues and would be incredible alongside these other writers.
Who would be on YOUR dream author panel? I want to know!
