LGBTQ+ Star: VIRGINIA WOOLF

1882 - 1941

When the body of the British writer, Virginia Woolf, was recovered from the River Ouse in April 1941, the New York Times printed part of a suicide not she left to her husband in which she said she '...cannot go on any longer in these terrible times. I hear voices and cannot concentrate on my work.' Sadly, the author had been plagued by depression throughout her life.

Woolf's writings included Jacob's Room (1922), Mrs. Dalloway (1925) and the novel, Orlando (1928), which is widely thought of as 'the first trans novel in English'. It features a main character who lived for centuries and changed sex from male to female. It also deals with the issue of primogeniture and inheritance, an issue that Woolf's lover, Vita Sackville-West had experienced when she was unable to inherit Knole House in Kent - which is explicitly featured in the book - because she was female.

Woolf's most autobiographical novel, To the Lighthouse, was published on this date in 1927. Her works were written in a stream-of-consciousness style - a narrative device that Woolf pioneered.

Orlando and A Room of One's Own (1929) both discussed gender and the struggles women faced because of a patriarchy that restricted their access to education, personal finance and property. Woolf's writing is still revered today and studied the world over.