author
Marie Hankel
1844–1929
A pioneer of Esperanto literature, she is remembered as one of the language’s earliest poets and as a passionate advocate for its cultural life. Her writing helped show that Esperanto could carry feeling, lyricism, and literary ambition.
1 Audiobook
Tri unuaktaj komedioj
by August von Kotzebue, Marie Hankel, T. Williams
About the author
Born Marie Dippe in Schwerin in 1844, she later became known as Marie Hankel after marrying mathematician Hermann Hankel. She learned Esperanto in the early 20th century and quickly became an important early voice in the movement, especially as a poet writing original work in the language.
She is often described as the first female Esperanto poet, and her poems were published in magazines and literary circles connected to the growing international Esperanto community. She also helped found the Esperantista Literatura Asocio, reflecting her commitment not just to writing, but to building a literary culture around the language.
Beyond literature, she was associated with women’s rights advocacy, including support for women’s suffrage. She died in Dresden in 1929, but she remains a notable figure in the history of Esperanto for helping give its early literature a distinctly personal and artistic voice.