Vida Jeraj

Vida Jeraj, born Frančiška Vovk, (31 March 1860 – 1 May 1932) was a Slovene poet and lyricist. Born in Bled, she travelled extensively through the Austrian Empire and, later the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, living in Ljubljana, Vienna and Kassel, initially with her mother and then later her husband, the violinist Karl Jeraj. After graduating as a teacher in 1895, she taught in primary schools. Much of her work was tragic, particularly following the death of her son in 1906, and her poetry covered a wide range of topics, and was influenced by literary modernism, Biblical themes and fairy tales. In the aftermath of the First World War, she helped run a charity for blind soldiers. She also wrote poetry for children, and had some of her work set to music by her husband. In the 1920s, she returned to Ljubljana and was active in the Drustva Slovenkih Leposlovcev Socialnogospodarskega in Kulturnega Zenskega (Women's Social, Economic and Cultural Association of Slovenia), and died in 1932.