Background
Shapir was born in Oranienbaum (now Lomonosov, Russia) in 1850. Her father, a peasant, served as an army clerk, for a while under the Decembrist leader Pavel Pestel. Her mother was of Swedish descent.
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Olga Shapir
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Career
She was one of nine children. The couple had connections with several prominent revolutionaries. They lived for a time in a commune in Saint St. Petersburg, where they were associated with the Kornilova circle, one of whose members was Sofia Perovskaya.
They were also on the fringes of a group ran by Sergey Nechayev.
Her first work of fiction was published in 1879. She wrote her novel The Stormy Years to counteract what she saw as the distortions of Fyodor Dostoyevsky (in The Possessed) and others
Her ten-volume collected works were published in 1910. Her primary public activity was in feminist organizations.
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In her fiction she defended the Russian revolutionary movement against its critics.
Membership
She joined the Russian Women"s Philanthropic Society in the 1890s, and was a member of the committee of the 1908 Women"s Congress.
