Virginie (Marie) Loveling (17 May 1836 – 1 December 1923) was a writer from Flanders who created poetry, novels, essays, and stories for children. She also used the pen name W. E. C. Walter. Early in her career, she wrote emotional stories, but her later novels addressed challenging topics openly.

Biography

Virginie Loveling was born on May 17 in Nevele, East Flanders, Belgium. She was the younger sister of Rosalie Loveling, also an author, and they co-wrote the more sentimental parts of their work. After their father, Herman Loveling, died, the family moved to Ghent. There, the sisters were part of groups of French-speaking, mostly anti-clerical educated people before returning to Nevele.

Together, they wrote realistic and descriptive poetry with a romantic feel. They also published two essay collections about rural communities and city middle-class life.

After her sister died in 1875, Virginie wrote children’s stories, novels, and essays that show life during that time. Her work includes intellectual and psychological themes, controversial topics, and strong female characters. She addressed difficult subjects directly and honestly, often without using metaphors. She also co-authored Levensleer (1912), a humorous book about Ghent’s French-speaking middle class, with her nephew Cyriel Buysse.

Her novel Een dure eed (A Costly Oath), published in 1891, received the quinquennial prize for Dutch literature.

Virginie Loveling died on December 1, 1923, in Nevele.