Murasaki Shikibu, artist

c. 973-c. 1014 or 1025

Lives of the Writers: Comedies, Tragedies (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt(Harcourt, 1994)

Novelist. Poet. Servant in royal court. Japan’s Shikibu is best known as author of The Tale of Genji, one of the earliest published novels of all time.