20 female masters of science fiction to add to your reading list
8. Andre Norton
It’s a common if an uncomfortable fact of creative work that some women have felt the pressure to conceal their gender. They choose gender neutral or masculine names to hide the fact that they are women. For some, it’s a way of avoiding discrimination and harassment. For others, it’s a way to boost sales and access markets that would be otherwise closed to them.
That was at least part of the case for Andre Norton, born Alice Mary Norton in Cleveland, Ohio. Born in 1912, Norton grew to maturity during the Great Depression. The economic disaster altered her plans to become a teacher and she eventually came to work for the Cleveland Library System. She continued to work there for 18 years, including a stint as a special librarian in the Library of Congress. Eventually, she was forced to retire from library work due to poor health.
That illness, however, paved the way for her career as a fiction writer. By the time of her retirement, she had already begun to write and publish some pieces. She had even legally changed her name to Andre Alice Norton, taking on a pen name she had created to make her work more marketable to boys. She had been writing fantasy work, and publishers traditionally believed that girls and women wouldn’t touch the genre if given a chance.
Her work blended science fiction and fantasy and brought her recognition as a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. Her most longest-running series was Witch World, where protagonist Simon Tregarth is transported to a fantastical world where magic exists and powerful women fight against outside invaders.