Today, it is common to see books published by women. In fact, according to NPD, “Women authors were responsible for 42% of unit sales for the top 100 books in the overall print book market in 2019.” However, it was not always like this. Before the 18th and 19th centuries, women had to publish anonymously or under male pseudonyms because it was the only way to actually have their works published or taken seriously. Here are some famous women authors who have published under male pen names.
The Brontë sisters
Considered among the greatest novelists of our time, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, known for their works “Jane Eyre,” “Wuthering Heights” and “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall,” respectively, all originally published their books under male pseudonyms. Charlotte Brontë published under the name Currer Bell, while Emily Brontë published under Ellis Bell and Anne Brontë under Acton Bell. According to The Independent, a British newspaper, “The Brontës wrote as men because their novels examined subject matter which was ‘unfeminine’ for their early Victorian readers: sexual passion, slang, alcoholism, domestic abuse and violence.” While the novels may have not had as much success in the 19th century if the sisters had published with their real names, their works today are regarded as important pieces of literature.
Louisa May Alcott
Best known for her novel “Little Women” and her children’s books, which she actually published under her own name, Louisa May Alcott published many other works under the male pen name A.M. Barnard in the 19th century. These works include a dark love story titled “A Long Fatal Love Chase,” which was written two years before Little Women and a novella titled “Behind a Mask.” While Alcott published her books in the 1800s, it was discovered in the 1940s by rare book dealer Madeleine B. Stern and librarian Leona Rostenberg that A.M. Barnard was her pseudonym. Under her pen name, Alcott was known to write many sensational gothic thrillers, which were deemed unladylike at the time.
J.K. Rowling
While J.K. Rowling is best known for creating the world of Harry Potter in the late 90s and early 2000s, in 2013, she published a crime mystery novel titled “The Cuckoo’s Calling” under the male pen name Robert Galbraith. To have their works taken seriously, many women throughout history did not have a choice but to publish under male pseudonyms. However, Rowling did so with her crime mystery novel by choice — and actually received a lot of criticism and backlash when the truth was revealed. On her website, Rowling defended her decision and explained, “[She] was yearning to go back to the beginning of a writing career with this new genre, to work without hype or expectation and to receive totally unvarnished feedback.”
