Elisabeth Jenny Janeczek was born on October 19, 1893 in Iglau, Austria-Hungary. After attending school, she worked as a post applicant and operator. In 1919 she published her first volume of poetry and later worked as a journalist under the name Elisabeth Janstein for the German-language daily Prager Tagblatt. She wrote for the Neue Freie Presse in Vienna and went to Paris as a correspondent. When the Germans invaded in 1940, she was able to flee to England and settled in Winchcombe. Janstein, who had suffered from liver and biliary complications since childhood, died there on December 31, 1944 after an unsuccessful operation.