13 female horror writers you should read

Tananarive Due (Image via Spelman College)

11.) Tananarive Due

Equally at home writing horror or speculative fiction, Tananarive Due is an author who deserves far more recognition amongst horror fans. Though known mostly for her work in horror, Due has also written The Black Rose, a historical novel about Madam C. J. Walker, and Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights. She has previously worked as a university professor and journalist.

Due was initially reluctant to follow her urge to become a horror writer. She said that “I’d had it drummed into my head in creative writing workshop courses that one could not expect to be a respected writer when writing commercial or genre books. Legitimacy has always been very important to me…Finally, though, I said the heck with all of it.”

She has written a number of novels as part of the African Immortals Series, a set of narratives that focus on powerful African people that achieved immortality hundreds of years ago. They must keep their true nature a secret, though they interact with mortal humans with dramatic and sometimes disastrous consequences. Due is also working on the Devil’s Wake series and has published a short story collection, Ghost Summer.

Where to start
Ghost Summer. A good short story is focused and effective, and you’ll be sure to find them in Due’s collection.