Kate Chopin (1851-1905) was a late 19th century short story writer and novelist. Based in Louisiana (and later, the Midwest), Chopin was not properly recognized for her progressive and forward-thinking prose during her lifetime and, in fact, much of her writing was considered immoral and controversial when it was first published. Born Katherine O'Flaherty in St. Louis, Missouri, she married Oscar Chopin and the couple settled down in Oscar's home town of New Orleans where they had six children. Following a series of catastrophic events - the death of her husband, the failure of the family business and oppressive, mounting debts - Kate moved back to St. Louis to live with her mother (who also died shortly thereafter). Suffering from depression following these devastating occurrences, a family doctor suggested she take up writing as an outlet for her creative energy, to distract her from her troubles and as a potential source of income. Chopin soon began producing short stories in prodigious numbers and they were regularly picked up by local periodicals and various literary magazines. The publication of her second novel, The Awakening, brought her a lot of media attention, but most of it was negative, with critics assailing her story of oppression, sexual exploration and marital infidelity as morally offensive. Though she never made much money at writing (she survived mostly on wise investments and the inheritance from her mother), she returned to short story writing and continued to produce works until her untimely death, of a brain hemorrhage, in 1904 at the age of 54. Chopin's works were largely out of print until the 1970's when her stories enjoyed a resurgence during the feminist movement and The Awakening has since become a revered and celebrated literary work around the world.