lady writers #2

I like reading, I like ladies, I like cool-lookingness. Here are the second wave of inspiring, talented women who make cool aesthetic choices and write books I like to read. 

Margaret Atwood exudes not-giving-a-fuck in a way I wish I did. She's prolific and everything she has written, I have thought is bomb. I love her sci-fi-ish, dystopian world view with a focus on the female experience of it. Also she just looks so fab and androgynous and just the right amount of unkempt.
Read: The Handmaid's Tale (duh), but also Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, Cat's Eye, The Edible Woman.
Wear: Unbrushed hair, hats, oversized collars, no makeup.

Ithell Colquhoun is a mythical lady who barely exists on the internet. She is another surrealist and, though mostly known for painting, also wrote a weird and wonderful novel called Goose of Hermogenes. I love female surrealists because I think the female experience (not that there is any universal female experience but you know) is intrinsically a bit bizarre and creepy. She was a very cool and deep-thinking, interesting lady with lots of great ideas.
Read: Goose of Hermogenes.
Wear: Big, patterned sack dresses, headscarfs, walking sticks.

Charlotte Roche is such a great girl. Loads of people have asked her to stop writing because all the things she says about what being a girl is really like is ruining people's ideas about girls. She talks about weird, smelly, disgusting things and will never apologise for it. But once you get past the initial shock, she's actually writing very sad and meaningful stories about really unusual and fascinating characters. 
Read: Wetlands, Wrecked.
Wear: Polonecks, fringes, hairy armpits, facial piercings.

Jean Rhys writes very sad stories about insurmountable problems, yet the stories are strangely compelling and readable. But yes, very very sad, so watch out for that. She is a very poetic writer and does really good imagery - she never writes in poetic cliche, either. 
Read: Wide Sargasso Sea, Good Morning Midnight.
Wear: Collars, cool hats, hoop earrings, sad eyes.