Won’t these old dumbasses just die already?
Like Scalzi (omitting any on his list), off the top of my head:
James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon)
Kelly Link
Doris Dungey (Tanta)
Harper Lee
Vanessa Veselka
Annie Dillard
Adrienne Rich
Molly Crabapple
Margaret Atwood
Maya Angelou (prose, don’t care for her poetry, like written by a completely different person)
Ellen Willis
Shulamith Firestone
Andrea Dworkin (don’t agree with all of her views, but her writing sizzles like bacon grease on a too-hot griddle)
Rebecca Solnit
Jo Walton
That’s the ones I can think of in a few seconds. There are more. What the hell is wrong with men like Talese?
If only it were about old farts expiring. They reproduce and otherwise influence young minds. I can name far more authors than authors I’ve enjoyed and a smaller subset still of authors who inspire me (to do or feel what?). To me, if someone asks “which authors inspire you” it tends to produce very politic answers. It’s funny he couldn’t come up with one person. Ida B. Wells, anyone? The lists on Scalzi inspired a lot of “oh yes, she’s a good author.” Sometimes I admire writers not so much for their actual writing but for their effect on others or the ideas they explore. Firestone and Dworkin fall into that category.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Octavia Butler
Roxane Gay
Mallory Ortberg
Jhumpa Lahiri
Susan Faludi
Mary Roach
J.K. Rowling
Shirley Jackson
Dorothy Parker
L.M. Montgomery
Andrea Barrett
Diane Ackerman
Alicia Erian
I agree about such questions producing very politic answers.
I’d forgotten about Diane Ackerman. Been a long time since I’ve read anything of hers.