Who are your favorite women authors?

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Lots of fantasy fans here! I like fantasy, but in my later years I've gravitated toward mystery and thrillers for some reason. I loved Madeline L'Engle's and Judy Blume's books.

Current fav female authors are Patricia Cornwell, Tess Gerritsen, Ann Rule, Nora Roberts, Val McDermid and probably a lot more than I can list here.

I second
Margeret Atwood, esp "Surfacing" and "Cat's Eye"
Ursula K LeGuin "The Wizard of Earthsea" trilogy, but also "The Dispossessed".
Agatha Christie, esp the Miss Marple books.

and propose:
Josephine Tey, especially "Brat Farrar", "The Daughter of Time", and "The Franchise Affair"
Daphne du Maurier, esp "The Scapegoat" and "The House on the Strand"
George Eliot "Middlemarch"
Charlotte Bronte "Jane Eyre"and
Emily Bronte "Wuthering Heights"
Jane Austen "Pride and Prejudice"
Mary Shelley, on principle because Frankensteins monster is an invention of genius, even if don't enjoy reading it.
Ellis Peters "Cadfael" series
Doris Lessing
Katherine Mansfield

and two odd ones i"m very fond of which are husband and wife writing teams;
Nikki French , especially "Beneath the Skin", and "The Land of the Living", and
Sergeanne Golon "Angelique".

and authors of childrens books that i love;
Frances Hodgson Burnett, esp "The Lost Prince" and "The Little Princess"
Penelope Farmer "The Summer of the Birds", and "Charlotte Sometimes"
Philippa Pearce "Tom's Midnight Garden" and "A Dog so Small"
Mary Norton "The Borrowers"
Anne Holm "I am David"
Joan Aiken " The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" and others
Rhoda someone or other who wrote "Redcap Runs Away"
E Nesbit and
Enid Blyton , once upon a time.

Women non-fiction authors, almost forgot them....

Andrea Dworkin, especially "Intercourse"
Monique Wittig "The Straight mind"

J.K. Rowling: No matter how old I am, the Harry Potter books will always be special to me.
Jane Austen: Her characterization transcends time. There's still Mr. Wickhams and Emma Woodhouses today, but unfortunately I have yet to meet a Mr. Darcy, lol.
Lauren Willig: I love history and I love sharp wit. Her books are a happy combination of both.
Philippa Gregory: Even though her books are sometimes horribly historically inaccurate, they're incredibly entertaining.
Anne Rice: Because I love vampires a lot. Like a really lot, lol.

Isabel Allende, hands down. She writes incredible mystical realism, and she makes you care so much about her characters. You get to know them over a period of years, generations.... She has also written some very very good nonfiction. She's Chilean.

Mary Renault
Daphne Du Maurier
Georgette Heyer
Ursula Le Guin
Jk Rowling
Marian Stamp- Dawkins

Anne Perry
Martha Grimes
Marry Shelly
Alice Munro
Debora Taylor-Hough
Agatha Christie

I liked Surfacing and Cat's Eye but I haven't liked any of Margaret Atwood's other books. In general I find literary fiction too dry for me.

Right now I tend to follow Louise Marley's work - she's interesting.
Also in SF/F sometimes Sharon Shinn and Elizabeth Moon, and I used to read Nancy Kress and Sherri S. Tepper.
Lynn Flewelling had a really interesting trilogy out recently. I missed the second one because I was afraid to look (I thought she killed one of my favourite characters, but she didn't).
There are some really good other SF/F novels by women but names escape me.

In the past I read a lot of Anne McCaffrey and Marion Zimmer Bradley.

In kids books: JK Rowling and Muriel Denison (mostly out of print).

Classics: Charlotte and Anne Bronte and Anne Radcliffe.

I used to read a lot of mysteries by women, but lately I've gone off them for some reason.

In general I prefer female authors because I find male authors don't have as much senstivity to psychological issues and I frequently end up feeling betrayed. But not always.

Some of the reasons that I love Anne Perry's mysteries, is that first, they are set in Victorian England, one of my favorite times/places to read about. Second, I love her descriptions, because they effectively transport you to the historical past. I especially like the way she describes what people's facial expressions mean, when they are being questioned by the police or a detective. This is invaluable. I have actually started to recognize some of the expressions in real life.

-Pearl S. Buck (There was a period of time when I was full blown obsessed with her.)
-Amy Tan

Since forever its been E. Anne Proux for The Shipping News