The Lady with the Sewing-Machine is here.

Maggie Smith (born 1977)

Maggie is the author of Lamp of the Body (2005), The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison (2015) and Good Bones (2017), as well as three prizewinning chapbooks. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ohio Arts Council, and the Sustainable Arts Foundation, and works as a freelance writer and editor.

The Mother is here.

Stevie Smith (1902–1971)

Christened Florence, Stevie got her nickname from the jockey Steve Donoghue because she was so small. She was mostly brought up by her beloved, fiercely independent aunt (whom she nicknamed ‘Lion’) and remained single, observing that marriage looked rather tiring. Stevie published poems illustrated with her own quirky doodles and rather autobiographical novels in which friends – including George Orwell, with whom she may have had an affair – thought they recognized themselves. She was fascinated by death and religion, and her lively readings won her fans, including Sylvia Plath, who called herself a ‘desperate Smith-addict’. Though she often suffered from ill health and sadness, she had a mischievous sense of dark humour that shines through her poems.

My Hat / The Forlorn Sea are here and here.

Edith Södergran (1892–1923)

Edith was a Swedish-speaking Finnish poet born in St Petersburg during a turbulent time for Russia. Due to her father’s poor health, her mother supported the family, giving Edith a strongly feminist role model. Edith fell ill herself and was sent to recover in a Swiss clinic where she met and was inspired by several writers. Her modern style of poetry was ahead of its time – critics were unimpressed, though her work became hugely influential after her death from tuberculosis aged only thirty-one.

Strange Sea is here.

Anne Spencer (1882–1975)

Anne was a poet, teacher, librarian and civil rights activist and, although she lived much of her life in Virginia, was a key member of the Harlem Renaissance, an explosion of African-American culture centred on New York. She was raised largely by her mother after her parents’ separation and, although she didn’t attend school until the age of eleven, she excelled in her education. Anne’s poetry focused on themes of racial and sexual inequality as well as her deep love of nature – she was a keen gardener – and were widely anthologized. She and her husband Edward were active in the fight for civil rights and hosted figures including Martin Luther King and Langston Hughes at their home in Lynchburg, now a museum.

Translation is here.

Ellie Steel

Ellie wrote this poem while studying for A-Levels in English, French and Sociology in East Oxford. She spent a lot of her extracurricular time in creative writing and poetry clubs, and has said that being a part of She Will Soar has reminded her just how much she loves writing.

Wings is here.

Den Sute-Jo (1633–1698)

Den Sute-Jo came from a wealthy samurai family and was born in a small mountain town in northwestern Kyoto. She married her stepbrother and had five sons and one daughter. Both she and her husband studied poetry with the famous poet-scholar Kitamura Kigin. After she was widowed, she became a nun and then a Zen Buddhist, living in a temple close to her Zen master with other women. ‘On the road through the clouds’ is here.