Anaïs Nin.

Anaïs Nin was born on February 21, 1903 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. Her father, Spanish pianist Joaquín Nin, abandoned the family when she was eleven. In 1914, she moved to New York with her mother, singer Rosa Culmell, and her two brothers. She began her childhood diary, Linotte, as a letter to her father. Nin was seriously ill twice as a child but survived with the help of Belgian nurses.

In 1932, Nin published her first book, D. H. Lawrence: An Unprofessional Study. She met Henry Miller in Paris through her lawyer and became part of the Villa Seurat circle. With Miller and Lawrence Durrell, she founded Siana Editions in 1935 to publish her own works like House of Incest 1936 and Winter of Artifice. Unable to find an American publisher, she bought a printing press and typeset her own books. Critic Edmund Wilson praised her writing, leading to a publisher. Her Diary brought her greatest success in the 1960s and 1970s. She also acted in films by Kenneth Anger and Maya Deren, including The Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome 1954.

In 1923, Nin married Hugh Guiler, a banker who later became filmmaker Ian Hugo. She had a passionate affair with Henry Miller and his wife June Mansfield Miller in the 1930s. In 1955, she bigamously married Rupert Pole while still married to Guiler. She maintained two households, one in New York and one in Los Angeles, for many years.

Nin’s diaries, published from the 1960s onward, made her a feminist icon. She influenced writers like Henry Miller and was a key figure in the women’s movement of the 1970s. She received an honorary doctorate and the Los Angeles Times Women of the Year Silver Cup. Her erotica collections Delta of Venus and Little Birds became bestsellers after her death. Nin is remembered for her unflinching exploration of female desire and identity.