Check out these Becca Anderson posts
I cast
every burden
on the Christ within
and I go free!
—Florence Scovel Shinn, 1925
DOROTHY L. SAYERS mystery maven
Born in 1893, Dorothy Sayers is one of England’s most revered writers, particularly for her twelve detective novels. But she also wrote twenty works of poetry, critical essays, and plays in addition to her popular fiction, and penned forty-four short stories as well.
Educated at Oxford, where she earned honors in medieval studies and was one of the first women ever to earn a degree, she taught for several years and then gained work as a reader for publisher Basil Blackwell. Her first publication was a volume of her poetry published during this period. Sayers changed jobs in the 1920s and went to work for an advertising agency. She also made another important shift in hobbies by joining the Detection Club. This enterprise, which included fellow member G.K. Chesterton, was dedicated to raising the reputation and quality of detective fiction.
Dorothy Sayers was most effective at improving the genre by her own efforts, and for the next twenty years became the top writer of detective fiction. Her first novel was Whose Body?, released in 1923; eight years later, she was making a good living solely from her witty, sophisticated novels.
Her recurring character is Lord Peter Wimsey, an aristocrat who did sleuthing as a pastime. Clearly a favorite of both Sayers and her readers, Lord Wimsey is present in all but one of her detective novels. Another recurring character is Harriet Vane, a woman sleuth based on the author herself, who provided equal opportunity for both genders in the genre that became her domain. After writing Busman’s Honeymoon in 1937, she turned to composing religious scripts for radio, as well as essays on a multitude of topics such as theology and—what else?—murder mysteries.
Dorothy Sayers’ Five Red Herrings is regarded as one of the classics of its kind, and her oeuvre continues to sell briskly more than fifty years after her death in 1957.
Allow me to inform you that I never at any time either sought or desired an Oxford fellowship…. Neither was I “forced” into either the publishing or advertising profession…. Nor do I quite understand why earning one’s living should be represented as a hardship. ‘Intellectual frustration’ be blowed! … It was all very good fun while it lasted.
Dorothy L. Sayers, in a 1955 letter to the Church Times, which had erroneously described her as a wannabe Oxford don
The Book of awesome women writers
Medieval Mystics, Pioneering Poets, Fierce Feminists and First Ladies of Literature (Feminist Book, Gift for Women, Gift for Writers)
This one-of-a-kind tome takes a tour with Sylvia Beach and other booksellers as well as librarians, editors, writers, bibliophiles, and celebrated book clubs. Join women’s studies scholar Anders as she takes you on a ribald ride through the pages of history. Chapter titles include “Prolific Pens” (including Joyce Carol Oates, author of over 100 books), “Mystics, Memoirists and Madwomen”, “Salons and Neosalons”, “Ink in Their Veins” (literary dynasties), and the titillating “Banned, Blacklisted, and Arrested.”
The Woman’s Book of Prayer
365 Blessings, Poems and Meditations
Prayer takes many forms: sitting in silence, walking mediation, using prayer beads or folding your hands every night and talking to God. If you want something different in your life, you must pray a different prayer. We are constantly communing with the Divine throughout our daily lives – even in the most ordinary activities. Comprised of both mindfulness meditations, prayer practices and selections of sacred texts, poems and blessings, Becca Anderson, author of Prayers for Hard Times and Every Day Thankful, gathers words of encouragement, comfort and sustenance for women. From Peace Pilgrim to Psalms to Dolly Parton, this collection of power thoughts and purposeful prayers will help you get inspired, and more importantly, stay inspired.