Powerful, transformative and empathetic voices have painted and repainted the literary canvas now and then. In the realm of literature, these voices reverberate as they have left an indelible mark on our culture. Literature written by men may have been like a raindrop touching the skin, but the voices in literature written and produced by women touch the soul. In this article, we have collected 10 voices that redefined the narrative space.

                    Painting new landscapes with bold strokes, first, we have Virginia Woolf. Leading the modernist movement from the front, her stream-of-consciousness technique probes deeper into the human psyche. Perhaps, the best example of this technique is Mrs. Dalloway.

                     Toni Morrison has carved a niche in recording African-American voices that are heart-rending and evocative. The Bluest Eye adorned her literary legacy with a Nobel Prize while Beloved stands in no lower degree than the former.

                      Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein hinted at the elements of science fiction way before than the works of HG Wells. Immersed in Gothic horror, it is a gruesome and pathetic tale of a monster that nonetheless throws existential questions upon the readers to contemplate.

                      Jane Austen’s audacious wit surpasses her peers in bringing the late Romantic mundane drawing room to the readers. The romantic genre is incomplete without the mention of Pride and Prejudice.

                        Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is as a dystopia as much as George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Both the works question totalitarianism and the iron hand of the dictator. But at the centre of Atwood’s narrative is a female experience delineating oppression personal to the female kind.

                      Emily Dickinson is a puzzle that has yet to be solved by the readers of American Literature. She explores themes that are grim and uncomfortable but profound. Death and misery of human existence are at the centre of her works.

                       Harper Lee shot to fame with ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. The question of Blacks in the South of America and their rights are narrated by South Finch. A groundbreaking work highlighting racial injustice is a classic piece emboldening the voices of the oppressed.

                        Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie weaves Nigerian experiences in her works. Americanah and Half a Yellow Sun dabbles in feminism, postcolonial and the crises of identity while reconciling childhood and adulthood experiences in a new country.

                        J K Rowling is a magician. Adding to the trope of an enchanted world from ancient and medieval literature and coming down to the present, Harry Potter is no less than the world of magic that combines elements of ancient sorcery with modern times. Enjoyed by the young and old alike, it has already hooked the generation to come.

                        Jhumpa Lahiri much like Adichie deals with the gap in culture, loss of identity and displacement. Donning new robes in the face of cross-cultural experiences, The Namesake is the vanguard of Indian Diasporic experiences.

                   In this article, we have enumerated 10 voices that have redefined literature. Making newer spots in cultural spaces and redrawing creative territories, such voices can encompass the length and breadth of the universe owing to the universality of themes.   

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