Incredible Women of 2025: The Writers And Directors

“In 2025, I’m inspired by my students. Their curiosity, passion, and determination make me want to be a better writer and teacher,” says Rebecca F. Kuang, the award-winning and bestselling author of the fantastical The Poppy War trilogy (the first book of which she published aged 21), alternate-history epic Babel: An Arcane History, and Yellowface. The latter is a conversation-starting, cuttingly satirical portrayal of institutional racism and white privilege in the publishing industry and has been optioned to be turned into a mini-series for TV, while a screen adaptation of the critically acclaimed Babel is also in the works. Kuang is currently pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale University. This summer, she returns to her fantasy roots with the release of Katabasis, another dark fantastical academic tale. Her next book won’t be too far behind. She tells us she’s “getting close to a final draft of my next literary fiction novel,” the details of which are still tightly under wraps.

Past Lives, Celine Song’s beautiful and semi-autobiographical first feature film, beguiled audiences and critics alike when it premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2023, going on to receive nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards. The movie is also credited with propelling the career of Greta Lee, who played the lead role. Song’s next movie is unsurprisingly already sparking great excitement and fortunately there isn’t too long to wait, as it is expected to land later this year. Materialists, a romantic comedy with an all-star cast – including Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans – is about an elite New York matchmaker who falls into a toxic love triangle.

Leila Mottley began writing her heartbreaking debut novel, Nightcrawling (2022), at the age of 16. When it was released several years later, she became the youngest ever Booker Prize nominee for its powerful depiction of a 17-year-old girl’s abuse and exploitation at the hands of the criminal justice system. The originality of her voice captivated her readers and won widespread praise. A visceral poetry collection, woke up no light, followed – Mottley is the former Youth Poet Laureate of Oakland, where she was born and raised – and now her much-anticipated second novel is slated for the summer. The Girls Who Grew Big promises to be as piercing and raw as her previous releases, telling a story of the complex intersection of girlhood and motherhood, following the lives of a group of very young mothers, deftly covering themes of friendship, love and defying expectations. The topics resonate with other areas of Mottley’s work: “As a birth worker, I watch people parent and protect their children and strive to create a future of safety and possibility for their families regardless of circumstance and the many threats to access resources and stability. They fight ruthlessly for their children’s right to grow and survive and that brings me hope.”