French-born novelist and short story writer, who gained international fame with her journals (1966.1983). Spanning the years 1931 to 1974 they record an account of one woman's voyage of self-discovery.

Anaïs Nin was born in Neuilly, France. After her parents separated, she moved to New York City with her mother and and became an American citizen in 1914. In New York she studied art and in 1923 she married Hugh Guiler, who later illustrated Nin's books under the pseudonym Ian Hugo. They moved to Paris, France and she become assoctiated with the villa Seurat group, which included Henry Miller, when she began writing fiction in the 1930s. Her career as a writer started with the publication of D.H. LAWRENCE: AN UNPROFESSIONAL STUDY. It was followed by several novels, and a collection of short stories, UNDER A GLASS BELL (1944).

In the early 1940s she returned to New York, where she printed and published her works at her own expense. In the 1960s she gained fame with her diaries, which also arouse interest in her earlier works.

Although Nin was criticized as narcissist, the feminist perspective of her works, pschological insight, and search for self-knowledge made her popular lecturer in the universities across the U.S. The last volumes of her diaries appeared posthumously in the 1980s. Nin died on January 14, 1977 in Los Angeles.

Note: Film Henry and June, dir. by Philip Kaufman, starring Frew Ward and Uma Thurman, depicted the relatioship between Anaïs Nin and Henry Miller

Note: American critic Edmund Wilson (1895-1972) was an early champion of Nin's works.

Selected works:

• D.H. LAWRENCE. AN UNPROFESSIONAL STUDY, 1932
• HOUSE OF INCEST, 1936
• WINTER OF ARTIFICE 1939
• UNDER A GLASS BELL, 1944
• LADDERS TO FIRE, 1946
• ON WRITING, 1947
• CHILDREN OF THE ALBATROSS, 1947
• THE FOUR-CHAMBERED HEART, 1950
• SPY IN THE HOUSE OF LOVE, 1954
• SOLAR BARQUE, 1958
• CITIES OF THE INTERIOR, 1959
• SEDUCTION OF THE MINOTAUR, 1961
• COLLAGES, 1964
• THE DIARY OF ANAÏS NIN, vol. 1 1931-1934, 1966
• NOVEL OF THE FUTURE, 1968
• A WOMAN SPEAKS, 1975
• IN FAVOUR OF THE SENSITIVE MAN, 1976
• WASTE OF TIMELESSNESS, 1977
• DELTA OF VENUS: EROTICA, 1977
• THE LITTLE BIRDS: EROTICA, 1979
• THE DIARIES OF ANAIS NIN, 1966-82

Compiled by Kuusankoski Public Library, Finland (© 1997) and René Märtin (© 1998-2001).