Possible Clues:

• "So Big" writer Ferber
• Woman's range curtailed after setback
• ____ O'Brien, Irish novelist
• Female Dane, oddly
• Ferber of 'Show Boat'
• 'The Simpsons' schoolteacher Krabappel
• Might she come back with E, too?
• Woman bearing genetic code material
• Girl from east and going west
• Dean (anag) - it's a girl's name!