Johanna van Woude

Johanna van Woude was the pen name of Sophia Margaretha Cornelia van Wermeskerken-Junius, born in Tiel in 1853 and died in Utrecht in 1904. She grew up in a large minister’s family and became part of Dutch literary life as both a writer and an editor.

She published novels, stories, and essays, and is especially associated with fiction that paid close attention to women’s lives and social questions. Sources also note that she worked as editor-in-chief of De Hollandsche Lelie, a magazine for young women, which helped make her an influential voice beyond her books.

Her life was marked by both literary success and personal difficulty. Later accounts describe a troubled final period, yet her work remained well known enough to earn lasting biographical interest in Dutch literary history.