Women's History Month 2026 Reading List

 Black History Month was wonderful reading, let's slide right into Women's History Month for March (with Zora Neale Hurston providing a wonderful bridge).  While specifc in general and science fiction in particular have always been a bit of a boy's club, there have always been women who made their mark on the genre

(and let's not forget that more or less the first ever Western science fiction novel was written by a woman . . .)

Every year, I enjoy going back to some of the badasses who shaped the genre and the voices saying fantastic things today

First, a few books of Feminist Speculative Fiction that I have loved:

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Absolute perfection, modern feminist retellings of classic Japanese myths.  Finally, the women of these stories that have so often been reduced to either monster or victim get to have their time in the spotlight


If you aren't a superhero comic book fan, this is still a collection of some really fun short stories about women's rage.  But if you are a comic book fan, you are basically obligated to read this collection so you can hear all those women in refrigerators tell their side of the story


Legitimately some of the best young adult fantasy out there, with an all-time great main character.  Full of magic, what else can you ask for in a series?

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Ok, here's what I plan on reading this month!  Join in, if you'd like:

"A Thousand Ships" by Natalie Haynes (2019)

The Illiad, retold from the perspective of all the women who never really got a voice in Homer's version.  Very happy to finally have time to read this one

"The Raven Scholar" by Antonia Hodgson (2025)

This book doesn't have as deliberate feminist themes as a lot on this list, but I'm still looking forward to it.  In a genre (epic fantasy) dominated by manly men doing manly man thing, simply writing a book with a female protagonist is progressive in a tangible way

"Oona Out of Order" by Margarita Montimore (2022)

I love unconventional narratives, a story about a woman's life, told as she randomly jumps through time to the significant points.  Yeah, I am so down!

"Remember You Will Die" by Eden Robins (2024)

Another experimental novel, about an AI who has taken a human form reading decades of obituaries as a way of coping with the death of her daughter.  Yeah, exactly.  Very excited for this

"We Who Are About to . . ." by Joanna Russ (1977)

Honestly, I am going into this one blind.  Russ's "The Shore of Women" is one of the most underrated scifi classics, foundational for feminist scifi.  I'm just down to read another of her books

"The Stone Gods" by Jeanette Winterson (2007)

I'm sorry, Jeanette Winterson wrote a postapocalyptic space opera???  How did I not know about this?  Oh I am so on board

"The River Has Roots" by Amal el-Mohtar (novella; 2025)

I still haven't gotten around to writing a post for "This Is How You Lose the Time War", but rest assured that that book meant tht el-Mohtar has a permanent place on my "must-read" list

"The Past is Red" by Catherynne M. Valente (novella; 2021)

Valente is another one on that list--if she writes it, I will read it.  Especially if it's a badass post-apocalyptic climate change allegory

"Terra Incognita:  Three Novellas" by Connie Willis (novellas; 2018)

Hey, bar trivia:  Which author has the most Hugo Awards?  If you ever find a bar full of scifi nerds, bet you can get some free drinks before someone guesses Connie Willis.  She's low-key a master, especially in the novella length

"The Ogress and the Orphans" by Kelly Barnhill (children's book; 2022)

"The Girl Who Drank the Moon" is one of the most beautiful books I've read . . . ever.  Like, actually ever.  Barnhill has my unending trust

"Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale" by Lauren Myracle (comic; 2019)

Because why not?  Let's have some fun

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So here we are!  Let me know if any of you want to come along for the ride

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