Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Lisa Chen earned a BA from UC Berkeley and an MFA from the University of Iowa. Her debut collection of poetry, mouth, received a 2009 award from the Association for Asian American Studies. Sesshu Foster says that ChenŐs work Ňstartles with soulful complexity.Ó (28 minutes)

Lyn Hejinian is the author or co-author of 14 books of poetry, including most recently "My Life in the Nineties" and "The Fatalist," as well as the award-winning "My Life." Poetry Flash has described My Life as a work that has "real, almost hypnotic power, obvious intelligence, and [is] astonishingly beautiful." (36 minutes)

Maxine Hong Kingston burst on the literary scene in 1976 with her book, "The Woman Warrior". A UC Berkeley graduate and professor, she has delighted audiences with books such as "China Men" and "Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book". In recent years she has started to write more poetry, including "To Be the Poet" from Harvard University Press. (55 minutes)

Born in Beijing, China, and raised in Massachusetts, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge molds language with seemingly effortless beauty and grace that invites the reader on a journey between worlds. She has published three books of poetry. Her selected Poems, "I Love Artists," is forthcoming from UC Press (April, 2006). Tune is as she reads a selection of her Poems before a live audience at UC Berkeley. (28 minutes)

Born in Mexico City, Monica de la Torre came to the United States in 1993 on a Fulbright scholarship to study at Columbia University. Her poetry explores with great depth both the boundaries and the permeability of imposed identity, combining a playful use of form and dry humor with a hint of hopefulness. (28 minutes)

Natasha Trethewey is author of Native Guard, for which she won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize; BellocqŐs Ophelia, named a 2003 Notable Book by the American Library Association; and Domestic Work, selected by Rita Dove for the inaugural Cave Canem Poetry Prize. She received the 2008 Mississippi Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts for Poetry. Currently, she is Professor of English and Phillis Wheatley Distinguished Chair in Poetry at Emory University. (28 minutes)

"There's love and sadness at the root of those Poems. There is also a bridge, a language that reads," writes Yusef Komunyakaa who selected Kim for the 2002 Walt Whitman Award for her debut collection of poetry, Notes from the Divided Country. Garrett Hongo writes of the collection, "Kim's brilliantly crafted, brave new Poems move us into an emotional union with the seemingly far-flung past of Korea political geography...what voice, what witness, what glorious descendancy." Formerly a Stegner fellow and Fulbright scholar, Kim now resides in New York State. (28 minutes)

Tracy K. Smith received degrees in English and creative writing from Harvard and Columbia, and was a Wallace Stegner Fellow in poetry at Stanford. Her first book, The Body's Question, was awarded the 2002 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, and her most recent collection, Duende: Poems, received the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. She teaches creative writing at Princeton. (29 minutes)

Considered the Guardian of Heron Indian Cemetery, her appearance made her the third woman, and the first Native American, to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court.

This resource is from a collection of biographies of famous women. It is provided by the National Women's History Museum, and may include links to supplemental materials including lesson plans about the subject and related topics, links to related biographies, and "works cited" pages. The biographies are sponsored by Susan D. Whiting.

In a 1912 New York Times article, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee was regarded as “the symbol of the new era, when all women will be free and unhampered.”

This resource is from a collection of biographies of famous women. It is provided by the National Women's History Museum, and may include links to supplemental materials including lesson plans about the subject and related topics, links to related biographies, and "works cited" pages. The biographies are sponsored by Susan D. Whiting.

Madam C.J. Walker was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and activist. She rose from poverty in the South to become one of the wealthiest African American women of her time.

This resource is from a collection of biographies of famous women. It is provided by the National Women's History Museum, and may include links to supplemental materials including lesson plans about the subject and related topics, links to related biographies, and "works cited" pages. The biographies are sponsored by Susan D. Whiting.

Astronaut Mae Jemison became the first African American woman to travel in space.

This resource is from a collection of biographies of famous women. It is provided by the National Women's History Museum, and may include links to supplemental materials including lesson plans about the subject and related topics, links to related biographies, and "works cited" pages. The biographies are sponsored by Susan D. Whiting.

Maggie Lena Walker was one of the foremost female business leaders in the US and the first woman to own a bank.

This resource is from a collection of biographies of famous women. It is provided by the National Women's History Museum, and may include links to supplemental materials including lesson plans about the subject and related topics, links to related biographies, and "works cited" pages. The biographies are sponsored by Susan D. Whiting.

At age eleven, Malala Yousafzai was already advocating for the rights of women and girls.

This resource is from a collection of biographies of famous women. It is provided by the National Women's History Museum, and may include links to supplemental materials including lesson plans about the subject and related topics, links to related biographies, and "works cited" pages. The biographies are sponsored by Susan D. Whiting.

A hero of the American Revolution, Margaret Cochran Corbin was the first woman to receive a military pension.

This resource is from a collection of biographies of famous women. It is provided by the National Women's History Museum, and may include links to supplemental materials including lesson plans about the subject and related topics, links to related biographies, and "works cited" pages. The biographies are sponsored by Susan D. Whiting.

Imagine being the first woman to win an Olympic event for the United States, but never knowing that you had done so. This is what happened to Margaret Ives Abbott.

This resource is from a collection of biographies of famous women. It is provided by the National Women's History Museum, and may include links to supplemental materials including lesson plans about the subject and related topics, links to related biographies, and "works cited" pages. The biographies are sponsored by Susan D. Whiting.

Margaret Sanger founded the birth control movement and became an outspoken and life-long advocate for women’s reproductive rights.

This resource is from a collection of biographies of famous women. It is provided by the National Women's History Museum, and may include links to supplemental materials including lesson plans about the subject and related topics, links to related biographies, and "works cited" pages. The biographies are sponsored by Susan D. Whiting.

An educator, translator, and clubwoman, Lopez helped win the vote for Californian women with her oratory and the writings she translated into Spanish.

This resource is from a collection of biographies of famous women. It is provided by the National Women's History Museum, and may include links to supplemental materials including lesson plans about the subject and related topics, links to related biographies, and "works cited" pages. The biographies are sponsored by Susan D. Whiting.

Maria Mitchell was the first female astronomer in the United States and the first American scientist to discover a comet.

This resource is from a collection of biographies of famous women. It is provided by the National Women's History Museum, and may include links to supplemental materials including lesson plans about the subject and related topics, links to related biographies, and "works cited" pages. The biographies are sponsored by Susan D. Whiting.

Maria Tallchief was one of America's most popular ballerinas.

This resource is from a collection of biographies of famous women. It is provided by the National Women's History Museum, and may include links to supplemental materials including lesson plans about the subject and related topics, links to related biographies, and "works cited" pages. The biographies are sponsored by Susan D. Whiting.