Leonora Speyer was born in DC, and educated in the DC public schools and the Brussels Conservatory of Music. She is the daughter of Julia Thompson von Stosch Schayer and sister of Richard Schayer, also both writers. Speyer began her career as a concert violinist, performing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, as well as orchestras in France, England and Germany. After living abroad for most of her adult life, she returned to the U.S. with her second husband at the start of WWI, and began to focus on writing.
Speyer won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her second book, Fiddler’s Farewell (1926). Her other books are Slow Wall (1939), Naked Heel (1931), and A Canopic Jar (1921). Speyer also translated poetry and libretti from German and French, and several of her poems were set to music.
The Homes
Leonora Speyer
1318 30th St NW
Located in Georgetown neighborhood, Northwest- West of Rock Creek