Marie de Régnier (1875–1963)

Marie de Régnier was born Marie-Louise Antoinette de Heredia in Paris, France, a daughter of poet José-Maria de Heredia, an important literary personality of the Belle Époque era. From an early age, she got to know the writers and artists who frequented her father's salon, including Anna de Noailles, Paul Valéry, Leconte de Lisle, and Anatole France. She married poet Henri de Régnier, but had a long-term relationship with writer Pierre Louÿs as well as liaisons with other writers such as Gabriele D'Annunzio. Marie de Régnier became an accomplished journalist, poet, playwright, and novelist. She published under the pen name Gérard d'Houville, derived from the name of an ancestor in Normandy, but did not try to conceal her gender.

Her work appeared in the Revue des deux mondes from 1894 and was widely admired both by critics and the public. Her debut novel, L'Inconstante, was published in 1903, followed by a dozen more. When the French newspaper L'Intransigeant asked readers in 1910 to name the top three female writers deserving of a place in the Académie française, "Gérard d'Houville" placed in the top position, above Anna de Noailles and Colette. In 1918, she was the recipient of the inaugural Grand prix de littérature from the Académie française for her fiction, and in 1958 she won the Académie's Grand prix de poésie for her poetry -- to this day, the only woman to have received both awards.
Several artists of the time painted her portrait, including Jacques-Émile Blanche and Jean-Louis Forain. She was also the subject of several of Pierre Louÿs's nude photographs. Most of her poems, which appeared mostly in magazines, still have not been collected and published in book form.