Writer meeting tragic woman, a female of many words? (7)
I believe the answer is:
poetess
'a female of many words?' is the definition.
(female poet)
'writer meeting tragic woman' is the wordplay.
'writer' becomes 'poe' (Edgar Allan Poe).
'meeting' says to put letters next to each other.
'tragic woman' becomes 'Tess' (character from Tess of the d'Urbervilles).
'poe'+'tess'='POETESS'
(Other definitions for poetess that I've seen before include "Emily Dickinson perhaps" , "Female writer of verse" , "Sappho, for one" , "See spot (anag)" , "Lady of verse" .)