The Inspiration for the Project

The world of Open Education Resources is growing, making knowledge and quality texts more accessible for more students.  As an avid fan of OER, I have adopted OER materials for most of my courses.  However, I was struggling to find open-access material for one particular literature course I teach regularly — Women Writers. I found pieces I can remix for my class, but not enough to fully teach the course with existing OER.  With time to research and write, I decided I could fill that gap not just for my own Women Writers course, but for other literature instructors looking to adopt immersive, interactive OER content.

The Course that Started It All

In my Women Writers course, we read, analyze, and synthesize the female experience as it is presented by women from a variety of cultural backgrounds.  We explore both fiction and non-fiction genres, including: memoir, novel, poetry, film, short story, play, pop music, and popular and scholarly articles.  Writing and discussion are integral parts of the course, so we use the writing process as a learning tool to help us engage with these texts.  I used these goals as the foundation to help me develop this textbook.

Navigating the Text

This project started small, but continued to grow as I thought about all the talented and inspiring women writers that should be included.  With nine units, containing ninety-nine chapters, the book may at first appear overwhelming.  However, I have organized it in a way that makes it easy to pick and choose the content that is right for your individual needs.  The nine units are organized by genre: feminist theory, nonfiction, memoir, poetry, music, plays, film, short stories, and novels.  Within the nine units, I have organized the featured authors chronologically by date of birth.  Each unit starts with an introduction that gives an overview of the content within the unit and it ends with a creative, culminating writing project that can be adapted for students at all levels.  Each featured author chapter includes shortcut anchors for easy navigation, background on the author and selected texts, visuals, discussion questions, interactive activities, and sources for further study.

A Work in Progress

 Like me, this book remains a work in progress, and it is hoped that over time, other women authors and teaching materials can be added. I invite instructors who utilize this text to send suggestions, edits, updates, or sections you would like to see added to wooten19@marshall.edu.