Leonora Peets

Non-fiction

Leonora Peets (née Leonora Erbak, 25 July 1898 – 11 August 1995) was a prose writer.

Peets was born in Tallinn as the daughter of a boilermaker at a railway factory, attended a German-language girls’ school and completed Tallinn Girls’ Secondary School of Business in 1917. From 1919–1922, she studied at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Tartu but did not finish her studies. She married a young doctor for whose tuberculosis treatment the couple decided to leave Estonia, which they did in 1927. For a short time, they lived in Algeria and France and for almost 45 years in Morocco. Leonora Peets’ husband worked as a doctor and also made home visits. Leonora Peets accompanied her husband on home visits due to social requirements or as an interpreter. She completed language courses immediately after arrival in Morocco. Thanks to her doctor husband, Leonora was able to get into the most secluded places and experience extraordinary situations. Her impressions and experiences were reflected in the short story Seitsmes Naine (‘The Seventh Woman’), which was published in 1932 as a serial in the newspaper Vaba Maa. The theme of women continued to prevail in Peets’ following stories; rich material for this was drawn from contacts with Arab women of various social standing, including harem women. From 1974 until her death, Peets lived in the small French town of Marignane.

In 1955, she started publishing short stories in the emigre Estonians’ magazine Triinu. The collection of 29 short stories Maroko taeva all (‘Under the Moroccan Sky’) was published in 1983. The book received the Henrik Visnapuu Literature Prize in 1984. The stories are based on real life and give a picture of Moroccan women’s life. Fifteen of her short stories were translated into English. They were published in London in 1988 under the title Women of Marrakech (translated by Rein Taagepera who is Peets’ nephew). Peets’ short stories have also been published in Estonia in the journal Looming (in 1989 and 1992).

L. P. (Translated by I. A.)

Books in Estonian

Short prose
Maroko taeva all. Stockholm: Välis-Eesti & EMP, 1983. 256 lk.