Adeline Virginia Woolf (née Stephen) is considered one of the most important modernist writers of the 20th century and one of the most famous members of the Bloomsbury group.
The evidence from her diaries strongly suggests a profound and genuine affection towards her spouse, Leonard Woolf. The couple actively participated in the Bloomsbury group, a circle known for embracing more progressive views on sexuality compared to the prevailing societal norms of their era. They were not monogamous, nor were Virginia Woolf's lovers all men.
In 1922, she met the popular novelist and fellow member of the Bloomsbury group, Vita Sackville-West. They soon started an intensely romantic friendship. Sackville-West claimed, in a letter to her husband, that her relationship with Virginia Woolf was only consummated twice. Eventually, their romance burnt out and became a long friendship.[1]
In her writing, she was a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf's reputation was at its greatest during the 1930s but declined considerably following World War II. The growth of feminist criticism in the 1970s helped re-establish her reputation. Many of her novels, including Mrs. Dalloway and Orlando: A Biography, have bi characters.
She also wrote non-fiction, including A Room of One's Own (1929), a book that has become one of the foundational texts of feminist literary criticism.