Elizaveta Niklaevna Akhmatova writing as Leila (2 December 1820 – 12 April 1904) was a Russian writer, publisher and translator who published translations of English and French writers into Russian.

Life

Akhmatova was born in Nachalovo,

Astrakhan Governorate The Astrakhan Governorate () was an Imperial, Republican, and Soviet Russian administrative division (), which existed from 1717 – 1929. Created from separating the southwestern part of the Kazan Governorate, by Peter I's Reform in 1717. And ...

in 1820 where she showed an early aptitude for languages. She would read books written in French and translate them as she read aloud to her mother in Russian. She received a good education despite her father dying when she was five. As a writer she was "adopted" by the Polish-Russian journalist

Osip Senkovsky Osip Ivanovich Senkovsky (russian: О́сип Ива́нович Сенко́вский), born Józef Julian Sękowski ( in Antagonka, near Vilnius – in Saint Petersburg), was a Polish-Russian orientalist, journalist, and entertainer. Life ...

who replied favourably to an unpublished translation that she sent him in 1842. Akhmatova saw him as a father figure who guided her writing career. She moved to St Petersburg in 1848 although she had visited there three years earlier. She translated and wrote for Senkovsky's journal '' Library for Reading''. She wrote for other editors including Senkovsky's successor

Albert Starchevsky Albert Vikentyevich Starchevsky (russian: Альберт Викентьевич Старчевский, born Adalbert-Voytekh Starchevsky, pl, Adalbert-Wojciech Starczewski, 28 April 1818, Kiev Governorate, Imperial Russia, — 7 October 1901, S ...

. In 1856 she created her own publication which was titled ''Collected Foreign Novels, Novellas and Stories Translated into Russian''. This magazine would flourish for twenty years although one source says thirty. There were 344 different issues and it included the work of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

Wilkie Collins William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist and playwright known especially for '' The Woman in White'' (1859), a mystery novel and early "sensation novel", and for '' The Moonstone'' (1868), which has b ...

Georges Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, bein ...

Emile Zola Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *'' Emil and the Detecti ...

and Anthony Trollope. She also created publications for younger readers but these had shorter lives. She took some criticism that was intended for Senkovsky. Some writers objected to how their work had been edited and Akhmatova's own stories were frequently changed or condensed before publication. Akhmatova's stories are noted for having strong female leads who direct male characters through the narrative. Akhmatova died in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akhmatova, Elizaveta 1820 births 1904 deaths People from Astrakhan Oblast People from Astrakhan Governorate 19th-century writers from the Russian Empire Women writers from the Russian Empire Pseudonymous women writers Russian publishers (people) 19th-century translators from the Russian Empire 19th-century pseudonymous writers