Kate Chopin, born Katherine O’Flaherty (1851–1904) was an American novelist and short-story writer and an advocate of New Orleans life and culture. After her husband died in 1882, she began to write about the people of the South. Her first novel was At Fault (1890), but she wrote over 100 short stories, including 'Désirée’s Baby' and 'Madame Celestin’s Divorce'. Her preoccupation with the freedom of women laid the foundations for feminist literature of later generations.
