The 10 Most Powerful Women Authors [Forbes]

The 10 Most Powerful Women Authors

The women selected for this list are powerful because of their ability to influence us through their words and ideas. Collectively, these women hold readers captivated with stories of fantastical worlds, suspense and drama, insights into the complexities of minority experiences and cultures, and fresh takes on societal issues and expectations… not to mention, book sales of up to 800M copies sold and a wealth of prestigious awards and recognition including Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes.

In other words, these 10 women can tell (and sell) a good story.

Although there are many more women throughout history who have proven to be powerful authors, this list is limited to those who are living, with a focus on personal narrative and fiction writers.


J.K. Rowling



Sales: 450 million books sold
Clout: The films based on her book series have achieved combined ticket sales of more than $5bn and numerous Academy Awards; Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur of France and Order of the British Empire (OBE); Honorary degrees from the University of Exeter, University of St. Andrews, University of Edinburgh, Harvard University, Dartmouth College, University of Aberdeen (and others); Awards include Author of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award, British Book Awards; Booksellers Association Author of the Year (and many more).

J.K. Rowling has captured our hearts and our imaginations through the fantastical world of Harry Potter, the beginnings of which she says came to her while sitting on a delayed train from Manchester to London. With movie adaptations taking home billions from box offices around the world, Rowling’s books are not only popular, but they touch readers with themes of acceptance, love, and courage. Thank goodness for train delays.


Danielle Steel



Sales: 800 million books sold
Clout: Best-selling author alive and 8th best selling writer of all time

Yes, you read that right, 800 MILLION copies sold. Best known for romance and drama, Danielle Steel’s novels have spent over 390 consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and 22 have been adapted for television.


Toni Morrison



Clout: Nobel and Pulitzer-Prize winning author.

Novelist, editor and professor Toni Morrison is best-known for such works as The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Beloved (which was adapted into a film). Morrison’s Nobel and Pulitzer prize-winning work shakes readers to their cores by taking an unflinching and often haunting look at the black experience in America.


Stephenie Meyer



Sales: 100 million books sold
Clout: Film adaptations of her novels have achieved sales of nearly 2 billion dollars (so far).

Best-known for her vampire romance series Twilight, Stephenie Meyer has quickly become one of the best-selling women authors of all-time, gaining worldwide recognition with stories that tap into readers’ romantic dreams and explore themes of immortality and sacrifice.


Mary Higgins Clark



Sales: 100 million books sold
Clout: Each of her 42 books has been a best-seller

Her debut novel, Where Are The Children, is in its 75th printing; suffice to say that Mary Higgins Clark’s suspense novels continue to keep readers on the edge of their seats across the globe.


Maya Angelou



Clout: Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award; Has been called “America’s most visible black female autobiographer” by scholar Joanne M. Braxton; awarded over 30 honorary degrees; has received countless awards including (but not limited to)Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature, National Medal of Arts, Presidential Medal of Freedom

Best-known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, Maya Angelou has come to epitomize wisdom and resilience, due to the depth, poignancy and honesty of her words.


Alice Walker



Clout: First black woman to win a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award.

Best known for her novel The Color Purple, for which she won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, author and poet Alice Walker touchingly explores themes of race and gender.


Jhumpa Lahiri



Clout: Won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; Member of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

In 2000, Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri’s debut short story collection, Interpreter of Maladies (1999), won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Her novels and short stories consistently deliver a fresh, insightful and deeply human account of the experiences of South Asian immigrants in America.


Joyce Carol Oates



Clout: Won a National Book Award and Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize

Since her debut in 1963, Joyce Carol Oates has published over fifty novels exploring themes of gender, violence, race and the darker elements of the human condition. Her novel Them won a National Book Award and three of her novels were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.


Isabel Allende



Clout: Heralded as “The world’s most widely read Spanish-language author”; Won Chile’s National Literature Prize; Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Chilean writer Isabel Allende’s novels, which often focus on Latin women, have achieved broad commercial success, with stories that inspire, haunt and touch on the magical, and mythical in the lives of everyday people.

Quelle

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Ich muss sagen, dass ich selbst nicht viel von solchen Rankings/Listen/was auch immer halte, fand es aber doch ganz interessant, welche Autorinnen - laut deren Meinung - dazugehören (:

Hallo Naomi!

Danke für diese interessante Liste.
Hm, es stimmt, "powerful" sind sie alle, auch wenn mich - wie überall - Stephenie Meyer da drin irgendwie wieder stört. Klar ist sie einflussreich und hat mit ihren Büchern viele geprägt, trotzdem finde ich es traurig, dass viel bessere Autorinnen unter ihr zu finden sind. Hm :"/

Eine sehr interessante Auflistung, trotzdem. Da erfährt man etwas über Statistiken, die einem vorher noch gar nicht wirklich klar waren. Und ich muss gestehen, dass ich von Jhumpa Lahiri bisher noch gar nichts gehört hatte.

Danke fürs Posten!

Liebe Grüße
Marie

Hallo Marie,

vielen Dank fürs Vorbeischauen (: Solche "Rankings" sollte man natürlich kritisch begegnen, unter anderen Namen kann die Sache schon anders aussehen, trotzdem fand ich es persönlich ganz interessant. Mit Stephenie Meyer kann ich mich persönlich auch nicht unbedingt anfreunden, finde aber, dass sie diesen Platz nicht unbedingt zu unrecht einnimmt, oder? Rowling sah ich soweiso dabei und auch Isabel Allende gehört für mich dazu (wenn auch weiter oben) (: Die anderen sagen mir ehrlich gesagt eher weniger.
Berücksichtigen muss man natürlich auch, dass es hier nur um noch lebende Autorinnen geht (:

Liebe Grüße,
Naomi