Eliška Krásnohorská

(18 November 1847, Prague – 26 November 1926, Prague) Czech author. Born into a craftsman's family, her early musical interests were hampered by agonising and severe joint ailments; she transferred her attention to writing, becoming a lyric poet notorious for her work's eroticism, a wittily acerbic epigrammatist, fabulist and critic, and a translator of Byron, Mickiewicz and Pushkin. A major figure in Czech feminism, she was prominent in philanthropic and educational activities, and an observer of international women's movements through organisations such as the Americký klub dam (American Ladies' Club) and the Ženský výrobní spolek český (Women's Czech Production Society), which she founded. In 1873 the latter group took over the Czech periodical Ženské listy (Women's Letters), which as chief editor Krásnohorská turned from a standard lightweight "women's journal" of the period into a leading feminist publication. ln 1890 she launched Prague's Minerva School, the first gymnasium for girls in the Austro-Hungarian Empire; instruction was in Czech. Krásnohorská wrote opera libretti for several composers: Bedřich Smetana (The Kiss, The Secret, The Devil's Wall, Viola; Zdeněk Fibich, Blaník); Karel Bendl, Břetislav, Lejla, Karel Skřetá, Dítě Taborá; Karel Weis, Blíženci .