Virginie Loveling (1836–1923)

Virginie Marie Loveling, a Flemish author of poetry, novels, essays, and children's stories, was the the younger sister of Rosalie Loveling, with whom she published collections of poetry and short stories. The sisters moved in circles of French-speaking, mainly anti-clerical intellectuals. Virginie was a prolific writer who produced a number of political sketches under the pseudonym Walter W.G.E., and novels that included Sophie (1885) and Een dure eed (A Dear Oath, 1891). This work won her critical acclaim, and she received the Five-Yearly Prize for Dutch Literature in 1894. Perhaps the best known of her works was the tragic romantic novel Een revolverschot (A Gunshot, 1911). She also co-authored the comic novel Levensleer (A Philosophy of Life, 1912), a humorous view of Ghent's French-speaking bourgeoisie, with her cousin Cyriel Buysse. For her series of children’s tales entitled Kinderverhalen (Children’s Stories, 1863–1886), she received an award from the Royal Academy of Belgium.