There are a large and ever growing number of biographical dictionaries of women writers. These works reflect the emergence of women's literature as a flourishing field of academic study over the past few decades. The genre also draws on a much older literary tradition of biographical collections of exemplary women.
This list includes biobibliographical dictionaries, in which biographical detail is provided alongside bibliographical information.
The dictionaries
Adelaide, Debra. Australian Women Writers: a bibliographical guide. Pandora, 1988. ISBN978-0-86358-148-9
Bell, Maureen, et al., eds. A Biographical Dictionary of English Women Writers 1580–1720. Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990.
Benbow-Pfalzgraf, Taryn. American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide: From Colonial Times to the Present. 2nd ed. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000.
Contains biographical and critical essays on 1,328 American women writers
Berney, K. A., et al., eds. Contemporary Women Dramatists. St. James Press, 1994.
Blain, Virginia, et al., eds. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1990. (Internet Archive)
entries for over 2700 women writing in English (in various national traditions)
Bloom, Abigail B. Nineteenth-century British Women Writers: a bio-bibliographical critical sourcebook. Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN978-0-313-30439-2
entries for over 90 British women writers of the nineteenth century
Bloom, Harold, ed. British Women Fiction Writers of the 19th Century. Chelsea House, 1998.
Bloom, Harold, ed. Caribbean Women Writers. Chelsea House, 1997.
Bomariot, Jessica and Jeffrey W. Hunter, ed. Feminism in Literature: A Gale Critical Companion. 6 vols. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005.
Includes timelines and entries on individual authors: Vol. 1 from antiquity through the 18th century; vols. 2–3 on the 19th century; and vols. 4–6 on the 20th century.
Buck, Claire, ed. The Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature. Prentice Hall, 1992. (Internet Archive)
Colman, Anne U. Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Irish Women Poets. Kenny's Bookshop, 1996. Intended to complement Weekes Unveiling Treasures.
Dagg, Anne Innis. The Feminine Gaze: a Canadian compendium of non-fiction women authors and their books, 1836–1945. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2001.
includes brief biographies of 473 writers
Fister, Barbara, ed. Third World Women's Literatures: A Dictionary and Guide to Materials in English. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1995.
Listings by country and region and alphabetical by author; includes bibliography of criticism.
Gonzalez, Alexander G., ed. Irish Women Writers: an A-to-Z guide. Greenwood Press, 2006. ISBN978-0-313-32883-1
Horwitz, Barbara J. British Women Writers, 1700–1850: An Annotated Bibliography of Their Works and Works about Them. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press; Pasadena CA: Salem Press, 1997.
Hudock, Amy E. & Rodier, Katharine, eds. American Women Prose Writers: 1820–1870. Gale Group, 2001.
Kester-Shelton, Pamela. Feminist Writers. Detroit: St. James, 1996.
entries on almost 300 writers (mostly American or British), including biography, bibliography, and critical bibliography. An appendix provides a brief paragraph or identifying phrase for an additional 177 writers.
Klein, Kathleen G., ed. Great Women Mystery Writers: classic to contemporary. Greenwood Press, 1994.
Knight, Denise D., and Emmanuel S. Nelson. Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1997.
Lindsay, Elizabeth Blakesley. Great Women Mystery Writers - 2nd ed. Westport, Conn.:Greenwood Press, 2007
Mainiero, Lina, American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide from Colonial Times to the Present. New York: Ungar, 1979.
Mann, David, et al. Women Playwrights in England, Ireland, and Scotland, 1660–1823. Indiana University Press, 1996.
Miller, Jane Eldridge, ed. Who's Who in Contemporary Women's Writing. Routledge, 2001.
entries on over 400 writers whose careers began from the 1960s onwards
Mulford, Carla, et al., eds. American Women Prose Writers to 1820. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999.
Schlueter, Paul, and June Schlueter, eds. An Encyclopedia of British Women Writers. Revised and expanded edition. Rutgers University Press, 1998. (Internet Archive)
approx. 600 biographical-critical entries, arranged alphabetically by name: 'In part, the project was a recovery effort, validating the work of a large cast of women writers, many of whom wrote anonymously or under male pseudonyms or who, in their time, were for the most part, neglected.'
Shapiro, Ann R., ed. Jewish American Women Writers: a bio-bibliographical and critical sourcebook. Greenwood Press, 1994.
Shattock, Joanne, ed. The Oxford Guide to British Women Writers. Oxford University Press, 1993.
Shelton, Pamela L., ed. Contemporary women poets. St. James Press, 1998. ISBN978-1-55862-356-9
250 entries, each including a biography, listing of works, personal statement by the poet, and a critical essay.
Showalter, Elaine, et al., eds. Modern American Women Writers. Maxwell Macmillan International, 1991.
Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Notable Black American Women. 1991.
Thesing, William B., ed. Victorian Women Poets. Gale Group, 1999.
Thesing, William B., ed. Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-century British Women Poets. Gale Group, 2001.
Todd, Janet, ed. British Women Writers: a critical reference guide. London: Routledge, 1989.
Todd, Janet, ed. A Dictionary of British and American women writers, 1660–1800. Rowman & Allanheld, 1985. (Internet Archive)
450 entries, 68 of which are American
Weekes, Ann Owens. Unveiling Treasures: the Attic guide to the published works of Irish women literary writer: drama, fiction, poetry
Wilson, Katherina M., et al. An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities. Vol. v. 698. New York: Garland Pub., 1991.
Wilson, Katharina M., et al. Women Writers of Great Britain and Europe: an encyclopedia. Garland Pub., 1997.
Reprints, with photos, selections from An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers (above)
