--- description: Virginia Woolf is one of the leaders, innovators, activists, entertainers, athletes and artists who defined the last century. title: Virginia Woolf: 100 Women of the Year image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7560bce173e45ace/698a0af822fb85abe7e2aaca/social-1929_Virginia-Woolf.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 1929: Virginia Woolf Mar 5, 2020 11:33 AM CUT  Buy the cover art→ Buy the cover art→Illustration by Oliver Sin for TIME; George C. Beresford—Hulton Archive/Getty by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 5, 2020 11:33 AM CUT In 1928, addressing distinguished female students at the University of Cambridge, novelist and critic [Virginia Woolf](https://time.com/4265948/virginia-woolf-1941-obituary/ "undefined") declared, “A woman must have money and a room of one’s own if she is to write fiction.” Replace “write fiction” with any creative, intellectual or political pursuit, and in a sentence, Woolf had summed up millennia of inequality. In her 1929 extended essay “A Room of One’s Own,” Woolf played with both fiction and nonfiction, building on the themes of her lectures. She invented the indelible figure of Judith Shakespeare, sister of William, who had equal talent but would never become a world-famous playwright because she was barred from education and relegated to the home. Suddenly, readers imagined a world history filled with the ghosts of [gifted women](https://time.com/5033084/friendships-jane-austen-other-women-writers/ "undefined") and the works they never had the opportunity to create. Before 1929, Woolf had established herself with [_Mrs. Dalloway_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0156628708/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time037-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0156628708&linkId=3c442c16b99ac6f9d6f478f485cc276d "undefined") and [_To the Lighthouse_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0156907399/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time037-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0156907399&linkId=98975d7dd40b42f0376b14d90c49bbd4 "undefined") as one of the boldest novelists of the 20th century, and then when “A Room of One’s Own” was published to both celebration and outrage, she became a political visionary too. Her essays were—and still are—a rallying call to women around the world. _—Lucas Wittmann_ [**Buy the cover art→**](https://fineartamerica.com/featured/virginia-woolf-1929-time.html "undefined") --- _This article is part of_ [_100 Women of the Year_](https://time.com/100-women-of-the-year/ "undefined")_, TIME’s list of the most influential women of the past century. Read more_ [_about the project_](https://time.com/5793734/time-100-women-of-the-year-issue/ "undefined")_, explore the_ [_100 covers_](https://time.com/5793732/time-100-women-of-the-year-covers/ "undefined") _and sign up for our_ [_Inside TIME newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletters?newsletter%5Fname=INSIDE%5FTIME&source=article-woy-footer "undefined") _for more._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5792713/virginia-woolf-100-women-of-the-year/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5792713/virginia-woolf-100-women-of-the-year/"},"headline":"1929: Virginia Woolf","datePublished":"2020-03-05T11:33:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:20:02.608Z","description":"Virginia Woolf is one of the leaders, innovators, activists, entertainers, athletes and artists who defined the last century.","url":"https://time.com/5792713/virginia-woolf-100-women-of-the-year/","keywords":["Women of the Year"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7560bce173e45ace/698a0af822fb85abe7e2aaca/social-1929_Virginia-Woolf.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7560bce173e45ace/698a0af822fb85abe7e2aaca/social-1929_Virginia-Woolf.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SOCIAL - Women of the Year: 1929_Virginia-Woolf","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5792713/virginia-woolf-100-women-of-the-year/","name":"1929: Virginia Woolf"}}]}] ```