Božena Slančíková, better known by the pen name Timrava, was a Slovak novelist, short story writer and playwright.
Background
She was born into the family of Paul Slančík, a Lutheran pastor and one of the co-founders of Matica Slovenská. At fifteen, she briefly attended a public boarding school at Banská Bystrica, otherwise her education took place entirely at home, where she lived until her father"s death in 1909.
Career
She also wrote under the name "Aunt Polichna". She had ten siblings of whom six survived to adulthood. Although she made several attempts to leave, she had little success finding a job.
Foreign three months, she was a companion to a wealthy widow in Dolný Kubín, and later became the caretaker of collections at the Slovak National Museum in Martin, but this also lasted only for a short time.
Royalties, however, were slim and she was forced to take a position as a kindergarten teacher. A post she held from 1919-1929, when she retired.
Her small pension was not sufficient and the royalties from her writing didn"t increase, so she moved to Lučenec in 1945, to live with relatives. In 1947, she was awarded the title of "National Artist".
That Alluring Land: Slovak Stories, translated and edited by Norma L. Rudinsky.
University of Pittsburgh Press, (1992).
Membership
While at Martin, she had made the acquaintance of Elena Maróthy-Šoltésová, a member of the Slovak women"s movement, who encouraged her to be a writer