Anna Akhmatova

Anna Andreyevna Akhmatova was born Anna Gorenko in Odessa, Ukraine, on June 23, 1889. Her interest in poetry began in her youth; but when her father found out about her aspirations, he told her not to shame the family name by becoming a “decadent poetess.” She attended law school in Kiev and married Nikolai Gumilev, a poet and critic, in 1910. Shortly after the marriage, he travelled to Abyssinia, leaving her behind. While Gumilev was away, Akhmatova wrote many of the poems that would be published in her popular first book, Evening. In 1964, Akhmatova was awarded the Etna-Taormina prize and, in 1965, an honorary doctorate from Oxford University. Her journeys to Sicily and England to receive these honors were her first travels outside Russia since 1912. Two years before her death at the age of seventy-six, Akhmatova was chosen to serve as president of the Writers’ Union. (Source)