Lithuanian Writer. She wrote autobiographical short stories and novels about the Kapeda region of her native country; over the years, these books were considered the best depiction of this area ever written. She was born in a small village of Vanagai, which was then Wannaggen in German East Prussia, in the Klaipėda district. At the age of five, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which affected her bones leaving her with an unsteady gait and using a cane for the rest of her life. Her family was poor peasants and fatherless, hence she started working at a young age babysitting or herding geese. Her basic education was from her mother’s home schooling; any more learning was self-taught by reading hymnals, calendars, and other available writings. When she was a teenager, her health improved as she received treatment for the tuberculosis in Angerburg. At first, she became a seamstress; then in her free time, she started writing poems and short stories, which were later being published in periodicals through Lithuania. In 1921, she relocated to Klaipeda where she took secretarial courses, and soon found employment as a secretary and translator. Becoming political active, she participated in the Klaipėda Revolt of 1923 and was involved in testifying in Nazi trials in 1934. In 1935, she published “Aukštujų Šimonių likimas”, which was very successful. She received the State Literary Award, a pension from the state, and dedicated her remaining life to literature. This was an amazing accomplishment for someone with little formal education. This award-winning book depicted the fate of the Šimoniai family between 18th and 20th centuries; with changes in the nation’s politics, they went from being nobility to poor peasants. Other books she published were "Vilius King" Vol. 1 in 1939, Vol. 2 in 1956, “Without a Father” in 1941, "Novella" in 1948, “A Different Home” in 1962 and "Last Cell Tour" in 1971. Her autobiographical trilogy: "And It was So" in 1960, "Not in the Shelter” in 1962,"Unfinished Book" in 1965 received world-wide attention. At times her novels could be described as “wordy”, over sentimental about her family’s life and sometimes her historical time-lines were not factual, but all were worth reading. During this era, she was writing in a country controlled by the Soviet Union and was given many limitations on what she could put in print. One manuscript took six years to write as it was repeatedly return for revisions as it did not say what the government wanted to have in print. In 1987 the Ieve Simonaitytė Literary Prize was established for young-noted writers. In 1979, the writer’s summer bungalow became the “Ieve Simonaitytė Memorial Museum”.