So, following on from the ever-continuing Discoverability Challenge, and in the aid of Discoverability, this page will feature a non-exhaustive list of women* who write and have published SFF novels, with the title of a recommended work (although inclusion does not imply endorsement). Some I have read, some I haven’t. List does not include self-published authors or we will be here forever.
This is a work in progress. There will be omissions. If you see any particularly glaring omissions or errors please mention them in the comments**. Otherwise assume that the list is unfinished and on-going (I am one person with limited resources). It’s also in no particular order.
- Emily St John Mandel – Station Eleven (SF)
- Sarah Pinborough – The Death House (F)
- Sammy HK Smith – In Search of Gods and Heroes (F)
- Naomi Foyle – Astra (SF)
- Stephanie Saulter – Gemsigns (SF)
- Emmi Itaranta – Memory of Water (SF)
- Katherine Addison – The Goblin Emperor (F)
- Tricia Sullivan – Lightborn (SF)
- Danie Ware – Ecko Rising (F)
- Gaie Sebold – Babylon Steel (F)
- Jen Williams – The Copper Promise (F)
- Jaine Fenn – Bringer of Light (SF)
- Emma Newman – Planetfall (SF)
- Ann McCaffery – Dragonflight (F)
- Andre Norton – Witch World (F)
- Madeline L’Engle – A Wrinkle in Time (SF)
- Kim Lakin-Smith – Cyber Circus (SF)
- Anne Leckie – Ancillary Justice (SF)
- Laura Lam – Pantomime (F)
- Erin Morgenstern – The Night Circus (F)
- Diane Wynne Jones – Howl’s Moving Castle (F)
- Jo Walton – Among Others (F)
- Joanne M Harris – The Gospel of Loki (F)
- N K Jemesin – The Fifth Kingdom (F)
- Nisi Shawl – Everfair (F)
- Liz de Jager – Banished (F)
- Sophia McDougal – Mars Evacuees (SF)
- Joanne Hall – The Summer Goddess (F)
- Sheri S Tepper – The Margarets (SF)
- Margret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale (SF)
- P D James – Children of Men (SF)
- Stephanie Burgis – Masks and Shadows (F)
- Lois McMaster Bujold – The Sharing Knife (F)
- Kate Elliot – Jalan (F)
- Liz Williams – Bringer of Souls (SF)
- Elizabeth Bear – Karen Memory (SF)
- Aliette De Bodard – Obsidian and Blood (F)
- Trudi Canavan – The Magician’s Guild (F)
- Charlie Jane Anders – All The Birds in the Sky (SF)
- Becky Chambers – The Long Way to A Small Angry Planet (SF)
- Rebecca Levine – Smiler’s Fair (F)
- Kameron Hurley – God’s War (SF)
- Zen Cho – Sorcerer To The Crown (F)
- Octavia Butler – Kindred (SF)
- Suzannah Clarke – Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell (F)
- Sophie Tallis – White Mountain (F)
- Connie Willis – Doomsday Book (SF)
- Juliet McKenna – The Thief’s Gamble (F)
- Mary Shelley – Frankenstein (SF)
- Janet Edwards – Earth Girl (SF)
- Marget Helgadottir – The Stars Seem So Far Away (SF)
- Sarah Lotz – The Three (SF)
- Madeline Ashby – Vn (SF)
- Genevive Cogman – The Invisible Library (F)
- Nina Allan – The Race (SF)
- Naomi Novik – Uprooted (F)
- Paige Daniels – Non Compliance : The Sector (SF)
- Pat Cadigan – Synners (SF)
- Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games (SF)
- Stephanie Meyer – Twilight (F)
- Deb E Howell – Healer’s Touch (F)
- Holly Black – Ironside (F)
- Nancy Kress – An Alien Light (SF)
- Ursula LeGuin – A Wizard of Earthsea (F)
- Lucy Hounsom – Starborn (F)
- Lou Morgan – Blood and Feathers (F)
- Kate Coe – Green Sky and Sparks (F)
- Mary Gentle – Ash (F)
- Katherine Kerr – Daggerspell (F)
- J V Jones – The Barbed Coil (F)
- Joan Aiken – The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (F)
- Anne Rice – Interview with The Vampire (F)
- Janny Wurts – The Ships of Merior (F)
- Ellen Kushner – Swordspoint (F)
- Sarah J Maas – The Assassin’s Blade (F)
- Cat Valente – The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland (F)
- Kate Wilhelm – Where Late The Sweet Birds Sang (SF)
- M J Engh – Arslan (SF)
- Elizabeth Moon – The Deed of Paksenarrion (F)
- C N Lesley – Sword of Shadows (F)
- Leigh Brackett – The Long Tomorrow (SF)
- Audrey Niffenegger – The Time Traveller’s Wife (SF)
- Emma Pass – ACID (SF)
- Joanna Russ – The Female Man (SF)
- C J Cherryh – Downbelow Station (SF)
- Steph Swainston – The Year of Our War (SF)
- Alice Sheldon (James Tiptree Jr) – Her Smoke Rose Up Forever (SF)
- Kari Sperring – The Grass King’s Concubine (F)
- Storm Constantine – The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit (F)
- Vonda MacIntyre – Dreamsnake (SF)
- Karen Joy Fowler – We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (SF)
- Maria Lewis – Who’s Afraid (F)
- Karen Traviss – City of Pearl (SF)
- Delia Sherman – The Porcelain Dove (F)
- Terri Windling – The Wood Wife (F)
- Liesel Schwarz – Sky Pirates (F)
- Malorie Blackman – Noughts and Crosses (SF)
- Nicola Griffith – Ammonite (SF)
- Frances Hardinge – The Lie Tree (F)
- Justina Robson – Keeping It Real (SF)
- Samantha Shannon – The Bone Season (SF)
- Gail Carriger – Souless (F)
- Mary Robinette Kowal – Glamour in Glass (F)
- Frances Kay – Dollywagglers (F)
- Robin Hobb – Royal Assassin (F)
- Nnedi Okorafor – Lagoon (F)
- R J Anderson – Knife (F)
- Jacqueline Carey – Kushiel’s Dart (F)
- Nalo Hopkinson – Midnight Robber (F)
- Fay Sampson – Wise Woman’s Telling (F)
- Shirley Jackson – We Have Always Lived In The Castle (F)
- Mary Stewart – The Crystal Cave (F)
- Seanan McGuire – Every Heart A Doorway (F)
- Glenda Larke – The Last Stormlord (F)
- Elizabeth Knox – Dreamhunter (F)
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch – The Black Queen (F)
- Rebecca Hall – Instrument of Peace (F)
- Cassandra Khaw – Hammers on Bone (F)
- Katherine Kurtz – Deryni Rising (F)
- Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Signal to Noise (SF)
- Lisa Tuttle – Lost Futures (SF)
- Alison Goodman – Eon (F)
- Ellen Croshain – Cruelty (F)
- Susan Cooper – The Dark Is Rising (F)
- Any McCulloch – The Oathbreaker’s Shadow (F)
- Anne Lyle – The Alchemist of Souls (F)
- Freda Warrington – A Taste of Blood Wine (F)
- Lauren Beukes – Zoo City (SF)
- Louise Lawrence – Children of the Dust (SF)
- J K Rowling – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (F)
- Maria V Snyder – Poison Study (F)
- Francis Knight – Fade To Black (F)
- Julian May – Conqueror’s Moon (F)
- Mary Norton – The Borrowers (F)
- Francesca Haig – The Fire Sermon (F)
- Gillian O’Rourke – The Reluctant Prophet (F)
- Hope Mirrilees – Lud In The Mist (F)
- Jo Thomas – 25 Ways to Kill a Werewolf (F)
- K T Davies – Breed (SF)
- Marie Brennan – A Natural History of Dragons (F)
- Stella Gemmell – The City (F)
- Roz Kaveney – Tiny Pieces of Skull (F)
- Anna Sheehan – A Long Long Sleep (F)
- Pat O’Shea – The Hounds of the Morrigan (F)
- Edith Nesbit – Five Children and It (F)
- Maggie Furey – Aurian (SF)
- Patricia McKillip – The Riddle-Master of Hed (F)
- Freya Robertson – Heartwood (F)
- Barbara Hambly – The Silent Tower (F)
- Deborah Harkness – The Book of Life (F)
- Tamora Pierce – Alanna : The First Adventure (F)
- Melanie Rawn – Dragon Prince (F)
- Mercedes Lackey – The Last Herald Mage (F)
- Elspeth Cooper – Songs of the Earth (F)
- Louise Cooper – Mirage (F)
- Lyda Morehouse – Archangel Protocol (SF)
- Rosemary Sutcliff – The Sword and the Circle (F)
- Joan D Vinge – The Snow Queen (SF)
- Karen Miller – The Innocent Mage (F)
- Gail Z Martin – Ice Forged (F)
- Tanith Lee – Forests of the Night (F)
- Sue Tingey – Marked (F)
- Tove Jansson – Moominland Midwinter (F)
- V E Schwab – A Darker Shade of Magic (F)
- Tanya Huff – The Better Part of Valor (SF)
- Tansy Rayer Roberts – Power and Majesty (F)
- Julie Czerneda – A Turn of Light (F)
- Juliet Marillier – Daughter of the Forest (F)
- Carol Berg – Song of the Beast (F)
- Lynn Flewelling – The Bone Doll’s Twin (F)
- G Willow Wilson – Alif the Unseen (F)
- Lian Hearn – Across the Nightingale Floor (F)
- Foz Meadows – An Accident of Stars (F)
- Susan Ee – Angelfall (F)
*includes any person who identifies as a woman but may be outside the binary.
** Comment with author and recommended title. Anyone suggesting Brent Weeks or Brandon Sanderson will have their comment deleted.
Joanne Hall 
Kristine Kathryn Rusch – The Black Queen
Aliette de Bodard – House of Shattered Wings
E J Swift – Osiris
Anne Charnock – A Calculated Life
C S Friedman – Black Sun Rising
Katherine Kurtz – Deryni Rising
Jacey Bedford – Empire of Dust
James Tiptree Jr (Alice Seldon) – Her Smoke rose up forever
Shirley Jackson – We have always lived in the castle
Ursula K Le Guin – The Left Hand of Darkness
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro – The Time of the Fourth Horseman
Emma Newman – Planetfall
Angela Slatter – Vigil
Starborn – Lucy Hounsom
Kate Griffin – Stray Souls
I am sure I will think of more as soon as I sign off – good luck
I started thinking of more as soon as I decided I was done for the day 🙂
Jennifer Roberson – Her various books about the shape-changing Cheysuli were some of the first fantasy books I ever read. Brilliant books and a brilliant author that has left a long lasting impression on me.
Cool – what book of hers would you recommend?
Seanan McGuire – Every Heart A Doorway
Elizabeth Knox – Dreamhunter (F)
Angela Carter – Nights At The Circus F
Katy Krump – Blue Dust-Forbidden SF
Claire Frank – To whatever end
Jo Clayton – Skeen’s Leap (SF)
Doris Egan/Jane Emerson – City of Diamond (SF)
Suzette Haden Elgin – Native Tongue (SF)
Zohra Greenhalgh – Trickster’s Touch (F)
Heather Gladney – Teot’s War (F)
Melissa Scott – Burning Bright (SF)
Elizabeth Willey – The Well-Favored Man (F)
Sydney Van Scyoc – Starsilk (SF)
Joan D. Vinge – Snow Queen (SF)
Robin McKinley – The Blue Sword (F)
Lynn Abbey – Daughter of the Bright Moon (F)
Esther Friesner – Mustafa and his Wise Dog (F)
Elizabeth Ann Scarborough – Song of Sorcery (F)
Nancy Asire – Twilight’s Kingdoms (F)
Catherine Cooke – The Winged Assassin (F)
R. A. MacAvoy – Tea with the Black Dragon (F)
Patricia Wrede – Dealing with Dragons (F)
Caroline Stevermer – College of Magics (F)
Martha Wells – Wheel of the Infinite (F)
Joyce Ballou Gregorian – The Broken Citadel (F)
Barbara Hambly – Dragonsbane (F)
Pamela Dean – Tam Lin (F)
Emma Bull – War for the Oaks (F)
Meredith Ann Pierce – Darkangel (F)
Teresa Edgerton – Child of Saturn (F)
Teresa Frohock – Miserere (F)
Susan Schwartz – Silk roads and Shadows (F)
Diana Paxson – The Mistress of Jewels (F)
Jane Yolen – Sister Light, Sister Dark (F)
Marion Zimmer Bradley – Mists of Avalon (F)
Jessica Amanda Salmonson – Tomoe Gozen (F)
Tanith Lee – Birthgrave (F)
Patricia McKillip – The RiddleMaster of Hed (F)
Michelle Sagara – Cast in Shadow (F)
Judith Tarr – The Hound and the Falcon (F)
KV Johansen – The Leopard (F)
Leah Bobet – Inheritance of Ashes (F)
Krista Ball – Spirits Rising (F)
Vicki Ann Heydron – Gandalara (F)
Wow, this is bringing back some great memories and reminding me I need to re-read some old favourites! Just a scan of the shelves, but I know I’ve forgotten some dearly loved authors/works
Wow, thank you for that! That’s quite a list. There are so many books on here I need to read!
You’re very welcome! A lot of them are older titles – I grew up in the 70s/80s and the stores were full of amazing authors and women seemed to dominate the shelves. I hope you do check them out and find some new favourites of your own. Thanks for assembling a wonderful list and great resource 🙂
Marie Brennan – A natural history of dragons
Francis Knight – Fade to black (using a pseudonym)
Some suggestions off the bookshelf next to me:
Teresa Frohock – Los Nefilim (F)
Erin Morgenstern – The Night Circus (F)
R A MacAvoy – Tea With The Black Dragon (F)
Helene Wecker – The Golem and the Jinni (F)
Carol Berg – Lighthouse Duet (F)
Rachel Aaron – Legend of Eli Monpress (F)
Emma Bull – War for the Oaks (F)
V E Schwab – A Darker Shade of Magic (F)
Sherwood Smith – Inda (F)
Judith Tarr – Alamut (F)
Kate Griffin – A Madness of Angels (F)
G Willow Wilson – Alif the Unseen (F)
Martha Wells – The Cloud Roads (F)
Fran Wilde – Updraft (F)
Barbara Hambly – The Darwath Trilogy (F)
Patricia Wrede – Dealing With Dragons (F)
Lian Hearn – Across the Nightingale Floor (F)
Elizabeth Moon – Trading in Danger (Vatta’s War) (SF)
and, er, me: Elspeth Cooper – Songs of the Earth (F)
Catherine Asaro – Sunrise Alley, Alpha, Skolian Empire series
Maybe it’s a bit naughty, but may I suggest R B Watkinson – The Cracked Amulet? If not, how about
Alison Croggon – The Gift (Pellinor)
Helen Lowe – Daughter of Blood
Maria V Snyder – Night Study
Hey thanks for the inclusion! However Babylon Steel is F, rather than SF (Also have Gears of Empire/Sparrow series, which is Steampunk…if you’re including that). I think you have all my faves already but if I think of any more will add…
Also in no particular order (and also I’ve read most, but not all)
N M Browne – The Spellgrinder’s Apprentice
Francis Hardinge – Gullstruck Island (my favourite) The Lie Tree (the one everyone will be talking about)
Sheila Rance – Sun Catcher
Katherine Roberts – Song Quest
Michelle Paver – Wolf Brother
Alison Croggon – The Naming (Book of Pellinor)
Janice Hardy – The Pain Merchants
Sarah Rees Brennan – The Devil’s Lexicon
Hello,
Here are a few more that I didn’t see on your list or in the comments, but I may have missed them, so feel free to correct me in case they are here 🙂
– Helen Oyeyemi, White is for Witching. (Fantasy veering into horror, I’ve reviewed it on my blog.)
– Aliya Whiteley, The Arrival of Missives. (Scifi. Loved it, loved it, loved it. I’ll be reviewing it on my blog on 1st April.)
– Jennifer Marie Brissett, Elysium. (Scifi. I haven’t read it yet and it’s been on my to-be-read list for too long now but I’ve only heard praises about it.)
– Sofia Samatar, The Winged Histories. (Fantasy. I’m currently reading it, there are some strong points about it, other aspects I like less.)
– Jane Roger, The Testament of Jessie Lamb. (Scifi, winner of an Arthur C. Clarke Award, also reviewed it.)
I really really recommend the Aliya Whiteley short novel.
And thanks to anyone who contributes to this list and who helps my to-be-read list to grow even longer than it already is 😉