Her authors include Margaret Atwood, Maya Angelou,[1] Sandi Toksvig, Sarah Dunant, Sarah Waters, Naomi Wolf, Linda Grant, Natasha Walter, Lyndall Gordon, Shirley Hazzard,[2] Joan Bakewell, Shirley Williams, Rachel Seiffert and Marilynne Robinson.

[5] When she was 20, she was on a fatal raft trip on the rapids of the Niagara River that was the basis of a story in Margaret Atwood's collection Bluebeard's Egg.

[4] At Queen's University, in Kingston, Ontario, Goodings studied Film and English Literature, arriving in London in 1977.

Virago was founded in 1973 by Carmen Callil, who was convinced an imprint devoted to women's writing, lives and concerns, could be both financially viable and an inspiration.

[3] Beginning as publicist,[7] Goodings continued to hold this position when the company became part of the British group Chatto, Virago, Bodley Head and Cape until it was sold to Random House, USA.