Marie Henriette Steil

Born in Luxembourg City, Steil is known to have been keen to assert her independence as a woman and to have promoted feministic trends such as a boyish hairstyle.^[1]

Her earliest works were published in Luxembourg newspapers, after she submitted stories to a competition run by Luxemburger Zeitung. They included the story Der Mond und das Mädchen (The Moon and the Maiden) which she sent in to a contest organized by the Luxemburger Zeitung. Other newspapers she contributed to included Jonghémecht, Junge Welt and Tageblatt. In Les Cahiers luxembourgeois she maintained a column Lettres de Suzette à Micromégas. She also wrote for the Berliner Lokalanzeiger and other German newspapers including Ullsteins Frauenblätter and Welt am Montag. In 1926, Steil completed a collection of short stories titled Tier und Mensch. Harmlose Geschichten (Animal and Man. Harmless Stories) which was published in Leipzig. In these allegorical, satirical tales, animals take on the roles of human beings while humans behave like animals.^[1]

Marie Henriette Steil died in Luxembourg City on 18 December 1930 at the age of 32, of a haemorrhage.^[1]

In September 2005, the Luxembourg Post Office issued a stamp in her memory bearing the sketched portrait displayed here.^[2] Her work Tier und Mensch. Harmlose Geschichten (Animal and Man. Harmless Stories) was released as an audiobook by the Centre national de littérature in 2021, narrated by actor Steve Karier.^[3]