Hortensia Papadat Bengescu (1876–1955)

Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu was born in Ivești, Romania, the daughter of General Dimitrie Bengescu and his wife Zoe Stefǎnescu. She attended high-school in Bucharest. In 1896, at age 20, she married Nicolae Papadat, a magistrate, with whom she had five children. The family moved frequently as her husband was transferred from town to town. She made her literary debut in 1912 with poems and articles written in French for magazines. Her first novella, Ape adânci (Deepwater), appeared to acclaim in 1919. During World War I, she worked as a volunteer Red Cross nurse, and described the experience in her novel Dragon (1923).
She went on to write a dozen other novels, including Concert din muzică de Bach (Concert of Music by Bach, 1927) and also published several volumes of short stories. After World War II, her work was banned by the Romanian Communist regime and she died in obscurity. However, after 1965, her writings have gradually been reintroduced by literary critics and academics.