Maria van Zuylekom

Maria van Zuylekom (29 July 1759 – 7 April 1831) was a Dutch poet and writer.

Biography Van Zuylekom was born on 29 July 1759 in Tedingerbroek (now known as Den Haag), Kingdom of the Netherlands. Her parents were Jan van Zuylekom and Agnita van Zuylekom . Her mother giving birth to her younger sister Theodora Aletta when van Zuylekom was aged 2. Van Zuylebom was a member of the poetry society Kunstliefde Spaart Geen Vlijt in Den Haag from 1788. van Zuylekom became the partner of ensign infantry and writer Jacob Eduard de Witte, who was serving a six-year sentence for treason. She allowed herself to be locked in prison with him every evening. In the prison, Van Zuylekom and de Witte wrote the epistolary novel Henriëtte van Grandpré (1789) together. Collaboration between two authors was fashionable in the Netherlands during the late eighteenth-century. and a son who enlisted as a second lieutenant in the Dutch military. Van Zuylekom requested residence in Alkmaar as a burgess which was granted by the Committee of General Welfare of the city on 8 May 1802.

In 1813, van Zuylekom released two publications in Amsterdam: Lierzang aan mijne Landgenooten, in Slachtmaand 1813 and Opwekking aan de Nederlanders, Lierzang.

Van Zuylekom died on 7 April 1831 in Den Haag, aged 71.

Publications

Mengelingen in Prosa en Poëzy (Den Hague, 1786) Henriëtte van Grandpré (Leiden, 1789) Osman en Ophelia (1790) Ismene and Selinde in brieven (1792) Lierzang aan mijne Landgenooten, in Slachtmaand 1813 (Amsterdam, 1813) Opwekking aan de Nederlanders, Lierzang (Amsterdam, 1813)

Van Zuylekom also contributed to journals, such as the Almanac for Women by Women and Contributions to Human Happiness, under the initials MvZ or MDW.