Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) is remembered as a key figure of the Modernist movement. She is known for her essays, short stories, and articles.

Mansfield was born into an upper-class family in Wellington, New Zealand. While attending the Wellington Girls’ High School, she explored a passionate relationship with Maata Mahupuku, who is believed to be Mansfield’s first female lover and had a tremendous influence on Mansfield’s writing about sexuality and nationality. Mahupuku was the granddaughter of a Māori chief, perhaps influencing one of Mansfield’s trademark themes: feeling disillusioned as a New Zealander because of the institutionalized maltreatment of the Māori people.

In 1903, Mansfield moved to London to attend Queen’s College. After extensive travel, she returned to New Zealand to write. However, she grew bored with the slower pace of life and returned to Europe, where she spent the rest of her life. She journaled extensively and described her bohemian romantic relationships at length. After discovering that a man she had feelings for was seeing another woman, she quickly became impregnated by his brother; however, his family disapproved of her, and she decided to marry another man (the marriage was quickly annulled). Her mother arrived in Europe and sent her daughter to Germany, where she miscarried.