Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)    
Virginia Stephen was born in London in 1882, in a literary household. Her mother's death when she was only thirteen was a devastating loss, though relieved by her sister and brother's affection.
After moving to Bloomsbury in 1904, the Stephens' house became one of the most important cultural centres in London, thereafter known as the "Bloomsbury group".
In 1912 Virginia married Leonard Woolf, who had served as a colonial administrator in Ceylon, but also an essayst and publisher who shared with his wife the commitment to women's rights and world peace.
Virginia's first novel was A Voyage Out (1915), but the best known ones are Mrs Dalloway (1925), To The Lighthouse (1927), Orlando (1928) - a fantasy biography, inspired by her relationship with writer Vita Sackville-West - and The Waves (1931). Her experimental style, known as stream of consciousness, gradually gained the respect of critics, although some ridiculed her feminism.
In 1917 Virginia and her husband founded The Hogarth Press, a small business whose publications reflected the interests of the Bloomsbury group in poetry, fiction, and criticism, and also allowed Virginia to develop her writing style without fear of publishers' rejections.
In March 1941, after her London house had been blown away by the bombs, Virginia committed suicide.

links: - Virginia Woolf on women and fiction - Virginia Woolf Web