Lay your needles ladies, take the pen : writing women in England, 1500-1700

Throughout the literature of the Renaissance there is a continuing debate about women's relationship to both the needle and the pen.

There is a widely-held assumption that women only began to write in the 19th century.

This anthology contains long extracts from 50 early modern texts, including letters and other manuscript material, prophetic texts, practical books and petitions, as well as the more widely recognized genres of prose fiction and autobiography.

The women writers themselves represent a range of different social, religious and political positions.

Texts by male writers are also included to promote "a gendered poetics that rereads men's texts in the weave of women's".

The result is an introduction to women's writing in the Renaissance that encourages the exploration of the differences between women.