This volume focuses on twelve women writers from the Middle Ages to the present day who have made a major contribution to German literature. It includes portraits of Mechthild von Magdeburg, the medieval nun who ushered in the tradition of mystical writing in German; Sophie von La Roche, whose masterly novels and other writings had a far-reaching impact on the culture of the late Enlightenment; Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, one of the greatest nineteenth-century poets; and Christa Wolf, author and prominent public intellectual who produced many key works of East German literature. The essays place the writers in the context of their period, and examine how their position as women affected what they wrote and the reception of their texts. The volume is based on a series of lectures delivered in the University of Cambridge by members of the Department of German and guest speakers. All the contributors are experts in the fields they address.