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Canonical name

Behn, Aphra

Legal name

Behn, Aphra

Other names

Johnson, Aphra (maiden name)

Astrea (spy name)

Date of birth

1640-07-10

Date of death

1689-04-16

Burial location

Westminster Abbey, London, England, UK

Gender

female

Nationality

England

Places of residence

Wye, Kent, England (birth)

Surinam

Antwerp, Flanders, Belgium

London, England, UK

Education

Occupations

Relationships

Organizations

Awards and honors

Agents

Short biography

Aphra Behn was one of the first English women to make a living as a writer. She was a popular and prolific Restoration playwright and poet (her pen name was Astrea). She also worked as a spy for King Charles II. Virginia Woolf wrote, "All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, which is, most scandalously but rather appropriately, in Westminster Abbey, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds. It is she -- shady and amorous as she was -- who makes it not quite fantastic for me to say to you tonight: Earn five hundred a year by your wits."

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Aphra Behn

Author of Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave

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