V. (Victoria) Sackville-West

Born Victoria Mary Sackville-West at Knole in Kent on March 9, 1892, she became widely known as Vita. She wrote novels, poetry, biographies, travel books, and gardening works, earning a reputation as one of Britain’s most versatile writers of the early twentieth century.

Sackville-West was part of the literary world surrounding the Bloomsbury Group and had a close, romantic relationship with Virginia Woolf, who drew inspiration from her for Orlando: A Biography. She married diplomat and writer Harold Nicolson in 1913, and together they had two sons.

In later life, Sackville-West and Nicolson transformed Sissinghurst Castle in Kent into one of England’s most famous gardens. She died there on June 2, 1962, leaving behind a body of work celebrated for its intelligence, sensuality, and love of nature.