Inez Haynes Irwin (March 2, 1873 – September 25, 1970) was an American

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

author, journalist, member of the

National Woman's Party The National Woman's Party (NWP) was an American women's political organization formed in 1916 to fight for women's suffrage. After achieving this goal with the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the NWP ...

, and president of the

Authors Guild The Authors Guild is the United States' oldest and largest professional organization for writers and provides advocacy on issues of free expression and copyright protection. Since its founding in 1912 as the Authors League of America, it has coun ...

. Many of her works were published under her former name Inez Haynes Gillmore. She wrote over 40 books and was active in the

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

movement in the early 1900s. Irwin was a "rebellious and daring woman", but referred to herself as "the most timid of created beings". She died at the age of 97. Irwin was a close friend of the American feminist writer Mary MacLane, who included a colorful personality portrait of Irwin in her newspaper articles in

Butte, Montana Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the 2 ...

, in 1910.

Early years and education

Inez Haynes was born on March 2, 1873, in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, to Gideon Haynes and Emma Jane (Hopkins) Haynes. Her parents were from

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in the United States, but were staying in Brazil because of her father's business problems. Her mother, her father's second wife, was 24 years younger than him, and had to raise a family of 17 children (10 of whom were her own). The family returned to Boston where Inez Haynes grew up. She attended four public schools, and then

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

between 1897 and 1900. At the time Radcliffe was a "center of

sentiment", and Inez Haynes and Maud Wood Park founded the College Equal Suffrage League, which later became the National College Equal Suffrage League.

Career

In August 1897, Inez Haynes married Rufus H. Gillmore, a newspaper editor, and assumed the name Inez Haynes Gillmore. The Gillmores visited pre-

War War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

Europe where she met Russian revolutionaries and French

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painters. While her husband supported her feminism, they later divorced. She published her first novel, ''June Jeopardy'' in 1908 and soon after became fiction editor of '' The Masses'', a left-wing monthly magazine. In January 1916, she married writer William Henry Irwin, and her name changed to Inez Haynes Irwin, although she continued publishing under her former name, Inez Haynes Gillmore. The Irwins summered in Scituate, Massachusetts, during the early 1900s. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

the Irwins lived in Europe where she worked as a

war correspondent A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories first-hand from a war, war zone. War correspondence stands as one of journalism's most important and impactful forms. War correspondents operate in the most conflict-ridden parts of the wor ...

in England, France and Italy. Inez Haynes estimated that between 500,000 and 750,000 women were killed in the war. William Henry died in 1948 and she moved to

Scituate, Massachusetts Scituate () is a seacoast town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on the South Shore, midway between Boston and Plymouth. The population was 19,063 at the 2020 census. History The Wampanoag and their neighbors inhabited the ar ...

, where she remained until her death at the age of 97 on September 25, 1970. Inez Haynes was a feminist leader and a political activist. She was a member of the National Advisory Council of the

, and wrote the Party's biography, ''The Story of the Woman's Party'', in 1921. She also wrote a history of American women, ''Angels and Amazons: A Hundred Years of American Women'' (1933).

Writing career

Apart from the non-fiction works noted above, she published over 30 novels, including '' Angel Island'' (1914), a "radical feminist Swiftian fantasy" about a group of men stranded on an island occupied by winged women. ''Angel Island'' was republished in 1988 as a "classic of early feminist literature" with an introduction by science fiction and fantasy author

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...

. Her fiction often addressed feminist issues and the plight of women, including divorce, single parenthood and problems in the workplace. Her 15-book "Maida" series of children's books was written over a period of 45 years, and tells the story of a school girl whose mother has died and whose father is very wealthy. She also wrote short stories for magazines, one of which, "The Spring Flight," won her the O. Henry Memorial Prize in 1924.

Associations

*Author's Guild of America, vice-President, 1930–1931; president, 1931–1933 *National Collegiate Equal Suffrage League, co-founder *Chairman of board of directors of the World Center for Women's Archives, 1936–1938/1940. *Member of American committee of Prix Femina, 1931–1933 Source: ''Feminist Science Fiction, Fantasy and Utopia''

Awards

* O. Henry Award, 1924 – for her short story, "The Spring Flight" Source: ''Feminist Science Fiction, Fantasy and Utopia''

Selected works

Novels

*''June Jeopardy'', Huebsch, 1908 *''Phoebe and Ernest'', Holt, 1910 – illustrated by R. F. Schabelitz *''Janey: being the record of a short interval in the journey through life and the struggle with society of a little girl of nine'', Holt, 1911 *''Phoebe, Ernest, and Cupid'', Holt, 1912 – illustrated by R. F. Schabelitz *'' Angel Island'', Holt, 1914 – reprinted, Arno, 1978; new edition, NAL Plume, 1988 with an introduction by

*''The Ollivant Orphans'', Holt 1915 *''The Lady of Kingdoms'', George H. Doran, 1917 *''The Happy Years'', Holt, 1919 *''Out of the Air'', Harcourt, 1921 *''The Lost Diana'' (novella), ''Everybody's Magazine'', June 1923 *''Discarded'', serialized in ''

The American Magazine ''The American Magazine'' was a periodical publication founded in June 1906, a continuation of failed publications purchased a few years earlier from publishing mogul Miriam Leslie. It succeeded '' Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly'' (1876–1904) ...

'', May–November 1925 *''Gertrude Haviland's Divorce'', Harper, 1925 *''Gideon'', Harper, 1927 *''P.D.F.R.: A New Novel'', Harper, 1928 *''Family Circle'', Bobbs-Merrill, 1931 *''Youth Must Laugh'', Bobbs-Merrill, 1932 *''Strange Harvest'', Bobbs-Merrill, 1934 *''Murder Masquerade'', H. Smith & R. Haas, 1935 *''Little Miss Redhead'', Lothrop, 1936 – self-illustrated *''The Poison Cross Mystery'', H. Smith & R. Haas, 1936 *''A Body Rolled Downstairs'', Random House, 1938 *''Many Murders'', Random House, 1941 *''The Women Swore Revenge'', Random House, 1946

The Maida books

*''Maida's Little Shop'', Grosset & Dunlap, 1909 *''Maida's Little House'', Grosset & Dunlap, 1921 *''Maida's Little School'', Grosset & Dunlap, 1926 *''Maida's Little Island'', Grosset & Dunlap, 1939 *''Maida's Little Camp'', Grosset & Dunlap, 1940 *''Maida's Little Village'', Grosset & Dunlap, 1942 *''Maida's Little Houseboat'', Grosset & Dunlap, 1943 *''Maida's Little Theater'', Grosset & Dunlap, 1946 *''Maida's Little Cabins'', Grosset & Dunlap, 1947 *''Maida's Little Zoo'', Grosset & Dunlap, 1949 *''Maida's Little Lighthouse'', Grosset & Dunlap, 1951 *''Maida's Little Hospital'', Grosset & Dunlap, 1952 *''Maida's Little Farm'', Grosset & Dunlap, 1953 *''Maida's Little House Party'', Grosset & Dunlap, 1954 *''Maida's Little Treasure Hunt'', Grosset & Dunlap, 1955

Short stories

*"The Father of His Son", ''Everybody's Magazine'', July 1904 *"A Doorstep Introduction", ''

Pearson's Magazine ''Pearson's Magazine'' was a monthly periodical that first appeared in Britain in 1896. A US version began publication in 1899. It specialised in speculative literature, political discussion, often of a socialist bent, and the arts. Its contribu ...

'', November 1904 *"Love Me, Love My Dog", ''Pearson's Magazine'', November 1904 *"The Start", ''Everybody's Magazine'', December 1904 *"The Amateur House-Party", ''

The Smart Set ''The Smart Set'' was an American monthly literary magazine, founded by Colonel William d'Alton Mann and published from March 1900 to June 1930. Its headquarters was in New York City. During its Jazz Age heyday under the editorship of H. L. Men ...

'', August 1907 *"The Matchbreakers", ''Hampton's Broadway Magazine'', November 1908 *"The Eternal Challenge", ''Everybody's Magazine'', January 1912 *"With Pitfall and With Gin", '' Pictorial Review'', February 1912 *"The Woman Across the Street", ''

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine that ran until 2016 and was last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th centur ...

'', September 1916 *"The Sixth Canvassar", ''The Century'', January 1916 *"The Last Cartridge", ''

McCall's ''McCall's'' was a monthly United States, American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. The publication ...

'', October 1922 *"The Spring Flight", ''McCall's'', June 1924 – winner of the 1924 O. Henry Memorial Prize *"The Irish Language", ''Everybody's Magazine'', July 1925

Non-fiction

*''The Californiacs'', A. M. Robertson, 1916 – a travel book about California *''The Native Son'', A. M. Robertson, 1919 – a book on California *'' The Story of the Woman's Party'', Harcourt, 1921; published as ''Up Hill With Banners Flying'', Traversity Press, 1964 – a biography of the National Woman's Party's and a history of the

suffragists Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

*''Angels and Amazons: A Hundred Years of American Women'', Doubleday, 1933 – a collection of biographical sketches *''Good Manners for Girls'', Appleton-Century, 1937 *"You Bet I Am!" (article), ''

Woman's Day ''Woman's Day'' is an American women's magazine that covers such topics as homemaking, food, nutrition, physical fitness, physical attractiveness, and fashion. The print edition is one of the Seven Sisters (magazines), Seven Sisters magazines. ...

'', October 1938 *''Adventures of Yesterday'', General Microfilm, 1973 – an autobiography Source: ''Feminist Science Fiction, Fantasy and Utopia''

References

External links

* *

at manybooks.net * Will Irwin and Inez Haynes Gillmore Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Inez Haynes Gillmore Papers, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Irwin, Inez Haynes 1873 births 1970 deaths Writers from Boston Writers from Rio de Janeiro (city) American feminist writers American suffragists American science fiction writers O. Henry Award winners American women science fiction and fantasy writers National Woman's Party activists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century Brazilian women writers 20th-century Brazilian writers American women children's writers American children's writers Members of the College Equal Suffrage League