American writer from Pennsylvania who, in 1902, moved to Paris with her brother Leo and settled at 27 rue de Fleurus. Their atelier became an artistic and literary focal point, with an extensive collection of paintings by artists like Picasso, Cezanne, Matisse, and Gris, and also writers like Sherwood Anderson, Ford Madox Ford, and Hemingway.
Her companion from 1907 on was Alice B. Toklas (background, photo at left), whom Stein made the supposed author of her own memoir, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933).
Stein's writing is characterized by repetitions and reprises, largely in unpunctuated sentences, owing much to a "stream-of-consciousness" kind of approach.