Djuna Barnes

Born in New York in 1892, Djuna Barnes was an American writer, journalist, illustrator, and playwright whose work became an important part of literary modernism. She first built her reputation as a sharp, adventurous reporter, and her life in Greenwich Village and later in Paris brought her into the middle of some of the most lively artistic circles of the early 20th century.

Barnes is most closely associated with Nightwood (1936), the novel that secured her lasting reputation. Critics and literary historians have also remembered her for books such as Ladies Almanack and The Book of Repulsive Women, as well as for the distinctive blend of lyricism, satire, and emotional intensity that runs through her writing.

After her years abroad, she spent much of her later life in New York and continued to be admired by later generations of writers. Though her work was neglected for a time, it has come to be seen as a major contribution to modernist literature and to queer literary history.