This year marks the 180th anniversary of the birth of Julia Beniuševičiūtė-Žymantienė – Žemaitė, a writer, active public and cultural figure!
Žemaitė is one of the most prominent Lithuanian authors of realistic prose. In her works, she sensitively and accurately depicted the everyday life of rural people, their relationships with each other, the position of women and social injustice. She entered the world of literature quite late, publishing her first work at the age of 49. However, her creative legacy is extremely rich and impressive – during her lifetime Žemaitė wrote about 350 short stories, short stories, plays and other works.
Her work was not limited to literary work. Žemaitė was an active educator, defender of women’s rights and a participant of the national revival. She contributed to the strengthening of the Lithuanian word and national consciousness, supported the participants of the 1863-1864 uprising, worked as an editor of the newspapers Lietuvos žinios and Aušrinė, encouraged women’s involvement in public life, and took part in the first Lithuanian Women’s Congress in 1907.
Even after reaching an honourable age, Žemaitė remained active in public work. During the First World War, she was involved in refugee relief activities, she was the head of the Vilnius Lithuanian Committee for the Relief of War Victims in Antakalnis, and later she went to the United States, where she collected donations for war refugees.
