Emma Maria Ball-Hennings, born in Flensburg in 1885, died in Sorengo near Lugano in 1948, is one of the initiators of Dadaism. The poet, singer, cabaret artist and co-founder of Cabaret Voltaire was an actress in a traveling troupe, diseuse, ether addict and a committed churchgoer. The contradicting radicalism of this author is most evident in her poems. Her most important works include The Last Joy (1913), Prison (1919), The Brandmal (1920), Bright Night (1922) and The Eternal Song (1923).