Louisa May Alcott was an American writer, poet, and public figure, best known as the author of the universally beloved novel Little Women (1868), which has become a classic of world literature.

She was born in Germanton, Pennsylvania, to Amos Bronson Alcott, a teacher, philosopher, and reformer, and Abigail May Alcott. The family belonged to a circle of American transcendentalists—intellectuals who promoted spiritual development, self-knowledge, and social reform. Family friends—Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau—had a significant influence on the future writer's worldview.

Louisa began writing at a young age to help support her family financially. In addition to her literary work, Alcott was involved in the fight to abolish slavery, supported women's rights, and was one of the first women to register to vote in Massachusetts.

She died in Boston at the age of 55, leaving behind a significant literary legacy - novels, short stories, poems and children's books, including Christmas stories, in particular "When Christmas Comes", full of warmth, family values ​​and faith in goodness.