Happy Birthday Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf

"a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is going to write..."       ~   Virginia Woolf



On this day in 1882, Adeline Virginia Stephen was born in London, England.  Early in her adult life she and her family moved to Gordon Square, Bloomsbury.  The house became a place for artists, writers and intellectuals - "The Bloomsbury Group" - to gather.  The house came to be regarded as a place where modern artistic thoughts germinated. 

In 1912 she married a gentleman from the Bloomsbury Group - Leonard Woolf.  Virginia and Leonard Woolf founded Hogarth Press.  She would go on to write many works of fiction and non-fiction, publishing most of them at Hogarth Press.  Despite suffering from repeated mental breakdowns, she was a proliferative and influential writer whose work continues to be read, discussed and examined.

Perhaps best known for A Room of One's Own, the feminist, novelist, essayist and critic died in March of 1941 from an apparent suicide by drowning.

 Her final book - A Writer's Diary - was published posthumously in 1953 .   In 1962, she was immortalized in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

 Click here to see photos and hear Virginia Woolf in her own voice - from a portion of a BBC production



Happy Birthday, Virginia and thank you for the legacy you've left all of the female writers who came after you!