Johanna Ambrosius, born on 3 August 1854 in Lengwethen in East Prussia, came from a modest background and, as the daughter of a small farmer, received only a rudimentary education. In 1875, she married the farmer Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt, with whom she had two children, and ran a farm for the rest of her life. Her literary talent became apparent early on, but it was not until 1894 that she won an anonymous poetry competition organised by the magazine Von Haus zu Haus, which helped her achieve her literary breakthrough. Her subsequently published volumes of poetry were well received, especially by the middle classes, and sold over 50,000 copies. Ambrosius' work, often close to the people and emotionally charged with motifs of nature, attachment to home and religious intimacy, was dismissed as ‘naive’ by contemporary literary critics, but her authentic language and down-to-earth subject matter ensured her a loyal readership. Despite later health problems, she remained active as a writer. She died in Königsberg on 27 February 1939.