Emilia Pardo Bazán (1851-1921) was born in A Coruña, Galicia, the daughter of a liberal aristocratic family. Her father, Count José Pardo Bazán, gave her an unusually comprehensive education for a woman of her time. In 1868, she married José Quiroga, moved to Madrid and began to become involved in literature. After separating from her husband, she devoted herself entirely to writing. Her novels Los Pazos de Ulloa (1886) and La madre naturaleza (1887) analysed the social decadence of rural Galicia and established her as a leading voice of Spanish modernism. At the same time, she fought for women's rights: In La mujer española (1890), she denounced educational disadvantage, founded the magazine Nuevo Teatro Crítico in 1891 and demanded access to universities. In 1906, she became the first woman to head the literature section of the Ateneo de Madrid and gave lectures at the University of Madrid. Pardo Bazán died in Madrid in 1921.