Pen name accepted by publishers and/or the public. Such is the case of Peru's Clarinda, whose work was published in the early 17th century. More often, women have adopted masculine pen names. This was common in the 19th century, when women were beginning to make inroads into literature but, it was felt, would not be taken as seriously by readers as male authors. For example, Mary Ann Evans wrote under the pen name George Eliot; and Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin, Baronne Dudevant, used the pseudonym George Sand. Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë published under the names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell respectively.
Mary Rakow Mary Rakow Mary Rakow is an American novelist. She graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from University of California, Riverside, in 1970, from Harvard University with a master's degree in Theological Studies, and from Boston College with a Ph.D. in Theology, Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit Honor Society. Her work has appeared in "Works & Conversations". She has appeared on "Writers on Writing", with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett KUCI-FM. Rakow is a member of PEN Center USA/West, where she has mentored in the PEN Rosenthal Emerging Voices Program. She is a novelist and freelance editor living in San Francisco. She is