Disruptive Literary Legends

This OZY original series explores long-forgotten historical figures who changed the way we write, read and appreciate literature.

Culture
This American Maverick Ruled the Lesbian Literary Scene of Paris
OZY - Molly Fosco
The lush, green garden bustles with people on a warm Parisian evening. Guests drink champagne and snack on hors d’oeuvres, the hum of their chatter …
This Black Children’s Magazine Started Nearly 100 Years Ago
OZY - Sean Braswell
Every revolutionary magazine needs a striking cover, and in January 1920, one appeared. It was a photograph of an African-American girl donning a …
This Feminist Urdu Writer Wasn't Afraid to Talk About Sex
OZY - Maroosha Muzaffar
Ismat Chughtai was making waves the moment she put pen to paper. Born in 1915 in a small Muslim household in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh, she …
First Native American Novelist Was a Killer Newspaper Editor
OZY - Carly Stern
Darkness had fallen, but the Ridge family wouldn’t find peace in slumber. John Rollin Ridge, then 12 years old, watched as his father was hauled out …