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Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson
1840–1914
A lively American writer and traveler, she is best known as the woman who became Robert Louis Stevenson’s wife and closest companion. Her adventurous life took her from the United States to Europe and the South Pacific, and her own writing grew out of that restless, independent spirit.
2 Audiobooks
The Dynamiter
by Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson, Robert Louis Stevenson
The Cruise of the "Janet Nichol" Among the South Sea Islands: A Diary
by Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson
About the author
Born Frances Matilda Van de Grift in Indianapolis in 1840, she later became known as Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson. She wrote for magazines and lived an unusually adventurous life for her time, traveling widely and supporting herself and her family through periods of major change.
She met Robert Louis Stevenson in France, and the two married in 1880. From then on, she was a central figure in his life and work, traveling with him through Europe, the United States, and finally to the South Pacific. She was also the mother of Isobel Osbourne and Lloyd Osbourne, both of whom became connected to Stevenson’s literary world.
Fanny Stevenson has often been remembered through her marriage, but she was a writer in her own right and a striking personality in literary history: practical, resilient, and deeply involved in the creative life around her. She died in 1914, leaving behind a story shaped by travel, partnership, and determination.