Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet, playwright, librettist, autobiographer, art collector, and salonnière who worked primarily in the English language across the first half of the twentieth century.

Born on 3 February 1874 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Stein was raised in Oakland, California, before pursuing her education at Radcliffe College, Johns Hopkins University, and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. In 1903 she moved to Paris, where she remained for the rest of her life. She established a salon at 27 rue de Fleurus, and from 1907 until her death she maintained a lifelong partnership with Alice B. Toklas. Stein died on 27 July 1946 in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Her body of work spans several genres and forms. Three Lives and The Making of Americans represent her prose fiction, while Tender Buttons collects her experimental poetry. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas and Everybody's Autobiography place her among practitioners of the autobiographical form. Her work for the stage includes the libretto Four Saints in Three Acts and the play Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights. Taken together, these titles reflect a career that moved across fiction, poetry, autobiography, and dramatic writing, with the Paris salon at 27 rue de Fleurus serving as a consistent gathering point for her activities as both a writer and an art collector.