title: James Burstall

texts:
<mask> is a British film and television producer and Chief Executive Officer of international group Argonon which he founded in 2011. Argonon has many companies within the group located in London, Los Angeles, New York City, Liverpool and Glasgow. Burstall’s broadcast career credits span a number of genres and international territories, and range from reality series Mormon Love on Facebook Watch, TV shows Cash in the Attic and House Hunters International to feature-length drama An Englishman In New York. Argonon, through a number of acquisitions and joint ventures, produces entertainment shows such as The Masked Singer (ITV), dramas such as Worzel Gummidge (BBC One) and documentaries such as Dispatches (Channel 4) and Mysteries of the Abandoned (Discovery Science). Education

Burstall studied modern languages at the University of Bristol, studied leadership at the Said Business School, University of Oxford (2011) and Leading Changing at the Graduate School of Business, University of Stanford, California (2013). Career

Prior to his television career, Burstall was a journalist, working as a writer and editor in Paris, London and New York for Vanity Fair, Condé Nast Traveler, and The Evening Standard. Burstall was CEO at Leopard Films which he founded in 2001.Before Leopard Films, Burstall worked as an executive producer and producer-director for broadcasters all over the world. Notable projects include Secret History of Hacking (Channel 4/TLC); Cutting Edge (Channel 4); and ITV’s weekly investigative series The Big Story. He also was a founding producer for London’s Planet 24 (The Big Breakfast for Channel 4), and was an on-screen reporter and producer for the BBC. He then created Leopard USA, a New-York based production company in 2003, then Leopard Drama and Leopard International, a distribution and rights business, in 2004. Burstall was a finalist in the 2009 IoD London and the South East Director of the Year Awards for 'Institute of Directors of the Year over 5m. Burstall created Argonon in 2011, bringing together Leopard Films, Leopard Drama and Leopard USA; re-naming Leopard International as Argonon International and acquiring Remedy Productions, specialists in entertainment, music and live events. In 2012, Burstall confirmed the launch of Remedy Canada, with significant investment from Argonon, followed by the acquisition of Transparent TV, producers of lifestyle and documentary programming in the UK, in 2013.He next launched Argonon’s first joint venture BriteSpark Films in 2013 bringing documentarian Nick Godwin into the group and he made further acquisitions including the multi-award winning Windfall Films. He took his original production Cash in the Attic into the digital world in 2013 with the launch of CashInTheAttic.com, a joint venture providing an online portal for fans of antiques, collectibles and vintage. In 2014, Burstall launched further joint ventures, Blacklisted Films, a new drama startup and The Bridge, a conduit bridging English speaking TV producers with their counterparts in Asia. The Bridge is co-producing projects in Korea. Burstall's Argonon group, which currently includes eight companies, saw a turnover of more than £55m in 2020. Argonon are listed in the London Stock Exchange "1000 Companies To Inspire Britain 2016" report as well as the 2017 report. Argonon is listed in the 2016 Sunday Times HSBC Track 200.In 2019, Argonon won the National Winner Award (UK) at the European Awards. In 2017, Argonon acquired non-scripted producer Like A Shot Entertainment. Burstall's group also invested in joint venture Bandicoot in partnership of Derek McLean and Daniel Nettleton. In late 2020, Argonon acquired branded video agency, Nemorin Film & Video. In 2021, Argonon launched factual formats-focused production company, Studio Leo, with Claire Collinson-Jones becoming Chief Creative Officer of the firm. Argonon Group companies and productions

Argonon is currently made up of eight companies including Bandicoot Scotland (a joint venture with Bandicoot co-founders Derek McLean and Daniel Nettleton); Leopard Pictures (Worzel Gummidge, BBC One); BriteSpark East/BriteSpark Films (known for Channel 4's Dispatches); Leopard USA (House Hunters International, HGTV); Windfall Films (Unearthed, Discovery); Like A Shot (Abandoned Engineering, UKTV's Yesterday); Studio Leo (Inside Tesco 24/7, Channel 5) and Nemorin Film & Video. Notable productions from the various companies under the Argonon Group, include Bandicoot Scotland's The Masked Singer, a singing competition featuring Jonathan Ross, Davina McCall, Mo Gilligan and Rita Ora as panelists.The Masked Singer won a Royal Television Society Programme Award 2021 in the Entertainment category and was nominated for an International Emmy Award 2021 in the Non-Scripted Entertainment category. Other notable productions include Netflix's Hard Cell starring Catherine Tate and Channel 5's World’s Most Scenic River Journeys, a documentary narrated by Bill Nighy, which has been co-produced with Blue Ant Media in Canada. Argonon has won 120 awards including Emmys, BAFTAs and RTS Awards and received over 180 nominations. Productions
 The Secret History of Hacking (Executive Producer)
French Express (Producer Director – Diverse Productions)
The Big Story with Dermot Murnaghan (Producer Director – Twenty Twenty)
The Big Breakfast (Producer – Planet 24)
Reportage (On-screen Reporter and Producer – BBC DEF II)
 Rough Guides to the World (Producer – BBC DEF II)

Executive Producer – Leopard Films
 Monstrous Bosses and How To Be One – BBC One
 Cash in the Attic – BBC One. Ran for ten years on the BBC and transmitted in a further 167 countries after launching in 2002. Nominated for Best Daytime Programme at the Royal Television Society Awards 2003. The Day the Immigrants Left – BBC One.Nominated for Rose D'or. Missing Live –  BBC One. Nominated for a Royal Television Society Award for Best Daytime programme in 2008 and commended in the House of Commons as a programme that changes people's lives. Executive Producer - Leopard USA
 Mormon Love – Facebook Watch
 House Hunters International – HGTV
 Man Caves – DIY
 Dear Genevieve – HGTV
 Hidden Potential – HGTV
 Missing Las Vegas – A&E
 Disaster Guy – A&E
 São Paulo: Hostage Capital of the World – A&E
 Cash in the Attic (USA) – HGTV/Discovery
Executive Producer - Leopard Drama
 Mysterious Creatures – ITV1. Winner of the Best Single & Serial Drama at the Mental Health Awards/BAFTA 2007. The Grey Man – BBC One
 Missing – BBC One
 Eve – CBBC. Winner RTS Scotland Best Children's Programme 2016 and RTS Best Sound 2016.An Englishman in New York – ITV1. Winner Berlin International Films Festival/Teddy Award 2009. Nominated for 3 BAFTAs. The Holding – Feature Film. Winner FANTASPORTO International Fantasty Film Awards 2012

References

External links

1965 births
Living people
British film producers
British television producers


title: Ann Wright

type: original

texts:
<mask> (born 1947) is a retired United States Army colonel and retired U.S. State Department official, known for her outspoken opposition to the Iraq War. She received the State Department Award for Heroism in 1997, after helping to evacuate several thousand people during the civil war in Sierra Leone. She is most noted for having been one of three State Department officials to publicly resign in direct protest of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. <mask> was also a passenger on the Challenger 1, which along with the Mavi Marmara, was part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Early life
<mask> grew up in Bentonville, Arkansas, in what she referred to as "just a normal childhood". She attended the University of Arkansas where she was recruited in the U.S. Army. <mask> earned a master's and J.D.degrees, while she worked for the U.S. Army. Her J.D.degree comes from the University of Arkansas and her master's degree in national security affairs is from the U.S. Naval War College. U.S. Army
<mask> earned a master's degree in National Security Affairs from the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island and later participated in reconstruction efforts after U.S. military actions in Grenada and Somalia. <mask> went on to serve 13 years in active duty in the U.S. Army, and 16 years in the Army Reserves, rising to the rank of colonel. She was placed in the Retired Ready Reserve, meaning the President could call her back to active duty in a time of need.U.S. State Department
In 1987, <mask> went to work for the Foreign Service within the U.S. State Department. Over the course of her State Department career, <mask> served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassies in Afghanistan (which she helped open following the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, an assignment she volunteered for), Sierra Leone (an embassy which she helped close and then reopen again), Micronesia and Mongolia, and also served at U.S. embassies in Uzbekistan (which she helped open), Kyrgyzstan, Grenada, and Nicaragua. <mask>'s eventual resignation was not the first time she had spoken out against policy. In an interview, <mask> said that she spoke out against United Nations bombing tactics waged in Somalia in the effort to kill rebel leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid. <mask> also said that she repeatedly disagreed with policy on multiple occasions but continued her work at the State Department. Resignation
<mask> submitted her resignation letter to then U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on March 19, 2003, the day before the onset of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Her letter was published on the internet the following day.In her resignation letter, <mask> listed four reasons she could no longer work for the U.S. government under the Bush administration:
 The decision to invade Iraq without the blessing of the U.N. Security Council
 The "lack of effort" in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process
 The "lack of policy" in regard to North Korea
 The curtailment of civil liberties within the United States. <mask> was the third of three State Department officials to retire from service in protest in the month prior to the invasion of Iraq, the other two being Brady Kiesling and John H. Brown. <mask> says that she did not know the other two, and had not read their resignation letters at the time she submitted her own. Peace activism

Since her retirement from the State Department, <mask> has become a prominent figure in the movement opposed to the occupation of Iraq. She has attended many conferences and given numerous lectures on her political views and on her experiences before and after her resignation. <mask> has worked with anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan on several occasions, most notably by helping organize the Camp Casey demonstration outside George W. Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch in August 2005, and by accompanying the southern leg of the Bring Them Home Now bus tour. She also volunteered at Camp Casey 3, started by Desert storm Veteran Dennis Kyne and Veterans for Peace days after  Hurricane Katrina  She marched with Sheehan in 2006 with the Women Say No to War campaign, which was meant to deliver a petition with over 60,000 signatures of citizens against the war.<mask> has willingly been arrested while taking part in anti-war demonstrations, the first such arrest occurring in front of the White House on September 26, 2005. She has said in interviews that she does not remove the arrest bracelets attached to her wrists upon the processing of her arrest, but rather collects them. On October 19, 2005, <mask> interrupted a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, shouting at Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, "Stop the war! Stop the killing!" <mask> was uneventfully escorted out of the hearing room. <mask> served as one of five judges at the January 2006 sessions of the International Commission of Inquiry On Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration. She was also one of three recipients of the first annual Truthout Freedom and Democracy Awards.<mask> was one of three witnesses called to testify at an Article 32 hearing on behalf of U.S. Army Lt. Ehren Watada, who on June 22, 2006 refused to deploy to Iraq with his unit, asserting that the war violates both the United States Constitution and international law. On April 1, 2007 <mask> was cited, along with 38 other anti-nuclear activists, for trespassing at the Nevada Test Site during a Nevada Desert Experience event protesting against the continued development of nuclear weapons by the United States. That evening <mask> appeared on The O'Reilly Factor to discuss the Geneva Conventions and how they applied to Iran in its taking of 15 British hostages. The discussion grew heated, and <mask> stated that she had served 29 years in the military. During the course of the exchange, O'Reilly questioned <mask>'s patriotism and when she pointed out she had served 29 years in the military and O'Reilly had never served at all her microphone was cut off. On April 17, 2007, <mask> attended a hearing of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee. She was ejected from the hearing room after speaking out of turn in response to comments made by Republican Congressmember Dana Rohrabacher.On September 11, 2007, <mask> was arrested, and later convicted, for disrupting a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing at which general David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker were testifying. <mask> took part in a September 15, 2007 protest march and die-in on the steps of the United States Capitol Building, organized by the ANSWER Coalition and Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). She was arrested for stepping over the wall after several IVAW and Veterans for Peace members were arrested. On October 3, 2007, <mask> and Code Pink activist Medea Benjamin were denied entry to Canada because their names appear on an FBI database, called the National Crime Information Center, due to arrests related to their anti-war activism. <mask> and Benjamin were told that if they wish to enter Canada in the future, they will have to apply for resident's permits. In regards to the incident, a Canadian MP, Olivia Chow, was "alarmed to learn that Canadian border police are enforcinig rules that have been determined by the FBI and other U.S.-based agencies." In December 2008, <mask> has recently expressed her dissatisfaction with the current U.S foreign policy toward Palestine.In 2009 <mask> began work as a leading member of the steering committee for the Gaza Freedom March. In August 2014 she was among the signatories of an open letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel by the group Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity in which they urged the Chancellor to be suspicious of U.S. intelligence regarding the alleged invasion of Russia in Eastern Ukraine. In 2017, <mask> was awarded the US Peace Prize by the US Peace Memorial Foundation “for courageous antiwar activism, inspirational peace leadership, and selfless citizen diplomacy.”

Gaza flotilla

On June 3, 2010 <mask> was interviewed by Democracy Now! She was on the Challenger 1, and observed the Israeli soldiers rappeling down from helicopters onto the deck of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara. Her own ship was boarded. "Flash bangs were used. One of our journalists was hit with something of an electric shock.I don’t know that it was a taser." <mask> was one of five activists who offered themselves up for arrest in Rep. Brad Sherman's office after he made a public statement that any American who provides humanitarian aid to Gaza should be prosecuted under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. No arrests were made. September 11th attacks and the 9/11 Commission report

In a 2007 interview on the Air America Radio network, <mask> described the 9/11 Commission report on the September 11 terrorist attacks as "totally inadequate", adding that she does not understand why the US national intelligence and defense operations completely failed and how the Pentagon could be hit on 9/11. Earlier, in 2004, she had signed a Letter to Congress, criticizing the Commission report for serious shortcomings and omissions, which according to the signatories renders the report flawed and casts doubt on the validity of its recommendations. Writings
In 2008, Koa Books published Dissent: Voices of Conscience, co-authored by <mask> and Susan Dixon. Subtitled Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq, the work includes a foreword by longtime anti-war activist Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the top-secret Pentagon Papers in 1971.Quotes
 “Refusing to participate in military operations that violate international law -- the war of aggression, the use of torture, the use of illegal weapons and purposeful targeting of innocent civilians will save Lt. Watada his sanity and his soul.”

See also

 Ehren Watada – former US Army Officer who opposed the Iraq War
 List of peace activists

References

External links

 <mask>'s letter of resignation
 <mask> at usmvaw.com

1947 births
Living people
21st-century American women writers
American anti–Iraq War activists
American anti–nuclear weapons activists
American diplomats
American political writers
Naval War College alumni
People from Bentonville, Arkansas
United States Army colonels
University of Arkansas alumni
Women in 21st-century warfare
Female United States Army officers
American women diplomats
American women non-fiction writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers

masks:
Mary Ann Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Wright
Ann Wright
Ann Wright
Ann Wright


title: Oleg Belozyorov

texts:
<mask> (Russian: Олег Валентинович Белозёров; born on 26 September 1969), is a Latvian-born Russian politician and manager. He is serving as president of Russian Railways since August 20, 2015. He served as First Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation (2015); Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation (2009-2015); and the head of the Russian Federal Road Agency (2004-2009). School and college years

<mask> was born on September 26, 1969 in Ventspils, Latvian SSR in the family physicians of city polyclinic. His father, <mask>, worked as a radiologist, his mother, Leonila Kirillovna Belozerova a neurologist. He studied at the School of Ventspils number 2. During his school years he was fond of athletics seriously, preferring to sprint running and long jump.After graduating from school in 1986, he entered the university in Leningrad. Since childhood, regularly made the 4-hour trip by train between Ventspils and Riga (180 km). As a student - on the night express train travel between St. Petersburg and Riga; since then it nourishes sympathy for the railroad. As a young man fond of travel, he walked Latvian medieval castles. He served in the army in the Murmansk region, on the border with Norway, then left. In 1992, he graduated from St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance with a degree in economics, planning industry. From the fourth year, he began working in the youth scientific-technical center - the forge of future entrepreneurs.Careers in St. Petersburg and Moscow

From 1998 to 2000 he worked in Saint Petersburg and successively held the posts of Deputy Commercial Director, Commercial Director, Head of the Department of Logistics and Transport. Starting to earn decently, his parents bought an apartment on Vasilevsky Island. In 2000 he worked as deputy director of cargo motor transport enterprise, number 21. In 2000–2001, he became the chief of the financial and economic department of the Russian President's plenipotentiary representative of the unit in the North-West Federal District. From 2001 to 2002, he was the deputy director of the management of corporate assets LOMO. In 2002–2004, he was the general director of the Russian fuel company. From July to November 2004, he was promoted as deputy head of the Federal Road Agency.In 2005, at the St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance, he defended his thesis on "Organization of logistics supply chain into a vertically-integrated structures of corporate type", candidate of economic sciences. On 9 November 2004, he was promoted the head of the Federal Road Agency, until 17 March 2009. From, 17 March 2009 to 11 May 2015, he was the Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation. In this capacity, he oversaw national importance projects, in particular the APEC summit in Vladivostok, the Universiade in Kazan. Since July 2014, he became member of the Board of Directors of Russian Railways. From May 11 to August 20, 2015, he was the First Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation. Activities in the Russian Railways

Since 20 August 2015, he is now the President of the Russian Railways.Announcing the appointment Belozerov, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has demanded that the new head of the holding lead Railways budget and investments in line with the current state of the Russian economy and the real income of the company, to reduce corporate costs by 10%, to bring order to the passenger transportation. The Belozyorov contract includes five key indicators of the company. On  28 September 2015 the Prime Minister proposed to relieve the company from the non-core assets - the football club "FC Lokomotiv Moscow" and corporate TV "RZD-TV.". However, taking into account the wishes of President Putin's counter-holding Railways found opportunities to save resources, while continuing to support the corporate health and sport, in particular the railway hospitals and clinics, football and hockey club "Lokomotiv". It was noted that the head of the company he willingly attends matches of these teams, and in case of success even comes into the locker room for athletes. Belozyorov reserves and has sought to continue the broadcasts RZD-TV. Belozyorov started an activity in a new field with personnel changes in the company, having concerned the first vice-president and vice-presidents.The priority directions of its work called cost reduction, optimization, energy efficiency, innovation. He promotes the idea that the tariffs for transportation of goods consignors (indexed by the Russian government in 2016 to 9%) ranged in one direction or another, depending on fluctuations in the market prices of transported goods. It aims to develop piggyback, to increase the share of transport in containers. Reductions in investment Railways on the initiative Belozyorov touched railway bypass of Krasnodar, Eastern landfill projects - BAM Trans, as well as some others, abbreviations provided in the administrative apparatus of the company. In June 2016 the head of the unit Railways and Administrative Department merged into the administrative and organizational unit with a reduction in the number of employees by 10%. Since 2016, the Russian Railways refused to purchase Japanese rails and placed orders for Russian enterprises "Evraz" and "Mechel". A new impetus when Belozerov received the first high-speed project in Russia.January 19, 2016 published an updated network schedule for the construction of high-speed rail line Moscow - Kazan, according to which the line is due to open regular train traffic in 2021. The key event of the railway in 2016 was the launch in September within the Moscow ring highway passenger Moscow Central Circle. In January 2016 at a conference in the Railways Belozyorov he raised the issue of improper procurement of expensive cars functionaries subsidiaries of the company. The subsequent dismissal of the heads of "daughters" Railways - General Director of "TransTeleCom" Kudryavtseva and chief "Roszheldorsnab" G. Gorbunova edition Lenta.ru associated with starting "cleansing in the ranks of heads of Russian Railways". There might be some corruption  for lobbying orders for wards companies, general patronage and conflict of interest in August 2016 dismissed the chief of Volga Railroad, A. Khrapaty. The most important facts first year Belozyorov activities Railways Interfax called the shift a significant part of senior management, including the First Vice-President Vadim Morozov, who refused to infrastructure subsidies, providing benefits for the summer travel schoolchildren and students, and benefits to reduce the burden on the industry from 9% cent indexation of freight tariffs. The carrying value of the company Russian Railways, the privatization of which is under discussion, Belozyorov in May 2016 estimated in the range of 2 to 4.5 trillion rubles, the market - many times higher.9 November 2016 Belozerov reported to Russian President Putin that the Russian Railways expenses for the year as a result of optimization of the costs reduced by 100 billion rubles. In 2017 Belozerov was named Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive Board. At the end of 2020, Belozerov declared an income of 213.9 million rubles. Family

Father - Valentin Borisovich Belozerov (born in 1936)
Mother - Leonila Kirillovna Belozerova (born in 1937)
Wife first marriage (since 1994) - Olga Belozerova, now a housewife
Son - Matvei (born 18 November 1996), a journalism student
Daughter - Veronica (born August 10, 2001), a schoolgirl studying in the 10th grade

References

1969 births
Living people
Russian people in rail transport
Russian people of Latvian descent
Russian politicians
Saint Petersburg State University alumni
Saint Petersburg University of Economics and Finance alumni

masks:
Oleg Valentinovich Belozyorov
Oleg Belozyorov
Valentin Borisovich Belozyorov


title: Dacia Maraini

texts:
<mask> (; born November 13, 1936) is an Italian writer. <mask>'s work focuses on women's issues, and she has written numerous plays and novels. She has won awards for her work, including the Formentor Prize for L'età del malessere (1963); the Premio Fregene for Isolina (1985); the Premio Campiello and Book of the Year Award for La lunga vita di Marianna Ucrìa (1990); and the Premio Strega for Buio (1999). In 2013,
Irish Braschi's biographical documentary I Was Born Travelling told the story of her life, focusing in particular on her imprisonment in a concentration camp in Japan during World War II and the journeys she made around the world with her partner Alberto Moravia and close friends Pier Paolo Pasolini and Maria Callas. Life and career

Early life
<mask> was born in  Fiesole, Tuscany. She is the daughter of Sicilian Princess Topazia Alliata di Salaparuta, an artist and art dealer, and of <mask>, a Florentine ethnologist and mountaineer of mixed Ticinese, English and Polish background who wrote in particular on Tibet and Japan. When she was a child, her family moved to Japan in 1938 to escape Fascism.They were interned in a Japanese concentration camp in Nagoya from 1943 to 1946 for refusing to recognize Mussolini's Republic of Salò, allied with the Empire of Japan. After the war, the family returned to Italy and lived in Sicily with her mother's family in the town of Bagheria, province of Palermo. Not long after, her parents separated and her father moved to Rome where, some years later, at the age of eighteen, Maraini joined him. <mask>'s work focuses on women's issues, and she has written numerous plays and novels. She was educated at L'Istituto Statale della Ss. Annunziata, a prestigious and privileged boarding school in Florence. Much of <mask>'s writing was affected by her parents and the roles they played in her life.<mask> grew up with an adventurous father and a mother who was always burdened and, in addition to this, read books in which only men would go on quests and journeys. She states that she "became upset by the fact that no great journey could be taken by a woman..."

She married Lucio Pozzi, a Milanese painter, but they separated after four years. She then became Alberto Moravia's companion, living with him from 1962 until 1983. Career
In 1966, <mask>, Moravia and Enzo Siciliano founded the del Porcospino ("Porcupine") theatrical company which had as its mission the production of new Italian plays. They included her own La famiglia normale, Moravia's L’intervista, Siciliano's Tazza, and works by Carlo Emilio Gadda, Goffredo Parise, J. Rodolfo Wilcock and Tornabuoni. In 1971 he signed the Open letter to L'Espresso on the Pinelli case against the police officer Luigi Calabresi. In 1973, she helped to found the Teatro della Maddalena which was run by women only.<mask> directed L’amore coniugale from 1969 to 1973, her only feature film. In 1976 <mask> directed the films Mio padre amore mio ("My father my love"), Aborto: parlano le donne ("Abortion: women speak out"), Le ragazze di Capoverde ("The young women of Capoverde") and Ritratti di donne africane ("Portraits of African Women"), a three part series. <mask>'s writing in film includes the screenplay for L'età del malessere (1968), the screenplay for Kill the Fatted Calf and Roast It (1970), a script collaboration for Arabian Nights (1974), the documentary Aborto: Parlano le donne (1976), the screenplay for the TV Movie documentary Abrami in Africa (1976), the TV series documentary Ritratti di donne africane (1977), the screenplay for The Story of Piera (1983), and the screenplay for La bocca (1990). <mask> has begun acting, recently appearing in Io sono nata viaggiando (2013) and narrating Caro Paolo (2013). She also appeared as herself in The Many Women of Fassbinder (1997), Midnight Journal (1990), Sophia: Ieri, oggi, domani (2007), Kulturzeit (2012), and Tutte le storie di Piera (2013). Later life
<mask> is a prolific and well-known writer who continues to produce works today. Her most recent novel, Chiara di Assisi- Elogio della Disobbedienza, was published in October 2013.Relationship with Italy
In an interview with Monica Seger, <mask> <mask> stated that, despite her attachment to Italy and its culture, she does not feel like a cultural ambassador. Very often, she tries to analyze her country critically since being able to view the world through critical eyes is one of the duties of an intellectual. Her criticism is based on the expectations she has of her country; the more intellectuals try to be critical of their country, the more they want to see it function well. As an intellectual, Maraini tries "to illuminate, to persuade other people of what could be changed in a country that has possibility, a great country, a country of great people that have done great things"  because she wants "to persuade Italians that [they] can do better". Writing and traveling
Furthermore, the interview focuses on <mask>'s meaning of being a writer and a critic. For instance, her book, La Seduzione dell’altrove, is very significant because it outlines her feeling towards her work. According to her, writing and travelling are both forms of illness and a therapy.They are an illness because they are stressful and tiring but a therapy because they give her an opportunity to “look from afar and perhaps see things better”. Relationship between the theatre and public
When discussing the importance of the relationship between her books and plays with the public, according to Maraini, the relationship with the public is more important in the theatre because, differently from books, plays deal with the collective and social aspect. While a novel is a more personal relationship with a single reader, plays focus on the live public that can be participating or not. Also, differently, it is easier to feel whether the public is participating or not compared to a book. Work
Bagheria (1993) is <mask>'s only autobiographical work to date. <mask>'s works have a general pattern to which they abide; a series of short stories and novels reflect her "prefeminist stage" are characterized by a sense of alienation, total disorientation, and the need for self-assentation through sexuality. <mask>'s "transitional stage," best characterized by her novel, A memoria, demonstrates a tone shifting from inaction to an active search for innovative expression.<mask>'s subsequent and more progressive novels, such as Donna in guerra (Woman at War), in which her female characters break free of traditional gender roles and explore their sexuality and social activism, reflect <mask>'s involvement in the feminist movement during the late sixties and early seventies. Themes
Many reoccurring themes evident in <mask>'s work are: personal freedom for women, exposing the use and abuse of power and its effects on women, women breaking free of traditional gender roles to explore their sexuality and social activism, the silencing of women in society and their appearance in the fashion-system, the seclusion and isolation of women as a result of women seeking their independence and freedom, motherhood as a form of confinement for women, and thus abortion as their only option, violence against and rape of women, women breaking free from being seen as sex objects, and characters' experience with homosexuality, pedophilia, and group sex. Maraini and feminism
Although <mask> states she is a feminist only in the fact that she is always on the side of women, much of <mask>'s work has been classified as feminist. The nature of <mask>'s work evolves in line with women's changing position in Italian society and exposes the use and abuse of power and its effects on women. <mask>'s progressive works helped change the general impression that women should solely fulfill domestic roles. <mask> <mask> underwent “a process of evolution in ideology”   divided into two forms; one that outlines the individual's close relationships with reality and the other based on motivation to further the cause of women's rights. According to writers such as Pallotta, a series of short stories and novels reflected Maraini's prefeminist stage.The literary works include La vacanza (The Vacation, 1962), L’età del malessere (1963). Her pre-feminist stage is characterized by the sense of alienation, total disorientation and the need for self-assentation through sexuality. Pallotta states “social and psychological disorientation [is] rooted in a passive consciousness that refuses to come to terms with reality”. The transitional stage is characterized by the need to search for new modes of literary expression. These stages led to a feminist viewpoint that reflects a feminist awareness. Feminist novels include A memoria and Donna in Guerra. These novels are very significant and are a representation of the Italian Feminist Movement of 1968.The importance of these two works is the research of the protagonists’ “total unity.”  This total unity can be considered part of the constituent stage of her literary expression of feminism. She also won the Premio Napoli & Sibilla Aleramo prize (1994) for "Voci," the Premio Mediterraneo and the Premio Citta di Penne for "Viaggiando con passo di volpe," the Sitges International Prize in Spain, the Premio Candcni, the Italian Premio Riccione, and she was both a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize and a nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature (2012) New Shoes Theatre Website
In 2021 she received the Cilento Poetry Prize. Sources and further reading
 <mask> <mask> Maraini biografia , at Italia Libri I Was Born Travelling at Eurochannel
 Dacia Maraini interviews Giorgio Antonucci
 Two articles from  RAI’s Italica'' site:
 Biography of Dacia Maraini
 Biografia di Dacia Maraini

References

1936 births
Living people
People from Fiesole
Strega Prize winners
Italian women journalists
Italian women novelists
Premio Campiello winners
Italian women screenwriters
Women screenwriters
Italian film directors
Italian women film directors
Italian women dramatists and playwrights
Italian women poets

masks:
Dacia Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Fosco Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Dacia
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Maraini
Dacia
Maraini
Dacia
Marainicia


title: Vinay Prasad

texts:
<mask><mask> is an American hematologist-oncologist and health researcher. He is an associate professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco who, together with Adam Cifu, coined the term medical reversal. He is the author of the books Ending Medical Reversal (2015) and Malignant (2020). Early life and education
<mask> was raised in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, before moving outside of Chicago in northern Indiana. His parents immigrated from India. <mask> was 2001 valedictorian of LaPorte High School. He attended Michigan State University, where he took courses in health care ethics and physiology.In 2005, <mask> graduated summa cum laude from MSU with a double major in philosophy and physiology. He gave the commencement speech to the College of Arts and Letters on behalf of the Philosophy Department. He completed his medical degree at University of Chicago in 2009 and completed a residency in internal medicine at Northwestern University in 2012. <mask> was certified in internal medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine in 2012 and earned a Master's of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University in 2014. In 2015, <mask> completed a fellowship in oncology at the National Cancer Institute and hematology at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Career
From 2015 to 2020, <mask> was assistant and then associate professor at the Oregon Health & Science University. He currently works at San Francisco General Hospital.<mask> is a hematologist-oncologist and associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco. He is a cancer drug and health policy researcher. He also studies the financial conflicts in drug approvals. In 2015, <mask> published the book, Ending Medical Reversal, with physician and academic Adam Cifu. <mask> hosts the podcast Plenary Session and blogs at MedPage Today. <mask> has won several teaching awards, including the 2017 Craig Okada Award for best teacher in the Hematology Oncology Fellowship program, the 2018 faculty mentorship award from the internal medicine residency, the 2019 J. David Bristow award from the graduating medical students, and the 2020 excellence in research and scholarship mentoring as awarded by the internal medicine residents. In the spring of 2020, <mask> published the book, Malignant: How Bad Policy and Bad Evidence Harm People with Cancer.Views and reception

In 2011, <mask> and colleagues published a research letter in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Charles Bankhead, a senior editor at MedPageToday, covered the topic, outlining the paper's primary point, which was the high prevalence of research articles demonstrating findings that deviated from the accepted standard of treatment at the time. Separately, "Retraction Watch" reported on <mask>'s personal remarks about the paper, saying "For a long time, we were interested by what we believe to be a pervasive problem in modern medicine. Namely, the spread of new technologies and therapies without clear evidence that they work, which are later (and often after considerable delay) followed by contradictions, which, in turn, after yet another delay, is followed by changes in practice and reimbursement." Matthew Hoffman, writing in 2012 for MedPageToday's KevinMD covered a paper by <mask> and colleagues on "When to abandon ship" when it comes to failing medical practices and treatments. Hoffman builds on the authors' proposed barriers to market entrance, such as evidence of effectiveness in large randomized controlled studies before broad usage, and links them to the insidious aspects of healthcare, such as profit and status. In 2013, <mask> Pittman interviewing <mask> about his further views on the intervention. According to the interview, <mask> advises against filter placement in all but the most extreme instances owing to a lack of proof and possibility for adverse events. In 2013, <mask>'s paper A Decade of Reversal:  An Analysis of 146 Contradicted Practices was published; The article was covered in a piece by The Huffington Post, which highlights a key lesson from the paper: patients should become more involved in their health care decisions rather than assuming a prescribed medication or device is beneficial. Patients may do this by asking their physician pertinent questions, such as what patient outcomes the intervention improved. Additionally, the article discusses the concept of healthcare cost. With growing anxiety about the expense of healthcare, utilizing limited resources on questionable medical practices with a weak evidence base threatens to jeopardize both the healthcare economy and patient health.Additionally, the authors of a Lancet Oncology editorial remark that "almost 10% of practice reversals occurred in oncology," suggesting that certain fields of medicine may be more susceptible to medical reversals than others. In a MedPageToday column written in October 2020, <mask> discussed the need to either reform or boycott additional fellowships. Due to the numerous disadvantages of extended healthcare training (e.g., deferred earnings, stringent parental leave policies, etc. ), there may be a need to create alternatives or realign incentives. <mask> suggests in a similar column that even medical residencies may require reform. He does, however, point out that while the system has its limitations, medical residents should not ask for pity because being a doctor is a privilege. <mask> has criticized other medical skeptics for their choices of topics to tackle, including homeopathy, as being poor use of their time.Skeptics David Gorski and Steven Novella published criticisms of and counter-arguments to <mask>'s stance, pointing out the perils of not challenging alternative medicine during a pandemic. In October 2021, <mask> prompted social media controversy when he published a blog post comparing the U.S. COVID-19 pandemic response to the beginnings of Hitler's Third Reich. Bioethicist Arthur L. Caplan said that <mask>'s arguments were specious and ignorant, and science historian Robert N. Proctor said that <mask> was "overplaying the dangers of vaccination mandates and trivializing the genuine harms to liberty posed by 1930s fascism". Selected works

References

External links

Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)
Scientists from Cleveland
Scientists from Indiana
Scientists from Chicago
Michigan State University alumni
University of Chicago alumni
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health alumni
Oregon Health & Science University faculty
National Institutes of Health people
Northwestern University alumni
American people of Indian descent
American skeptics
American critics
21st-century American scientists
American hematologists
American oncologists
1982 births

masks:
Vinayak K
. Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasadra
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad
Prasad


title: Malama Katulwende

texts:
<mask> is a Zambian author and thinker, born in the Luapula province of this Southern African country. A teacher by profession and educated in Catholic Seminaries and at the University of Zambia (UNZA), he first appeared on the literary scene with poems published in an anthology titled Under the African Skies: Poetry form Zambia in 2001. In 2005, his novel Bitterness was published in the United States and launched him internationally as a young, promising African writer. For this novel, he was awarded the 2006 Julius Chongo Best Creative Writer in Zambia at the Ngoma Awards Ceremony held in Lusaka. The book has been used by Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, among others, for its courses in anthropology. In 2011, Katulwende published  a philosophical collection of essays, The Fire At The Core: Discourses on Aesthetics, Music, Jurisprudence, Ethno-Politics and Good Governance, in which he tackled recurring themes of Zambia's underdevelopment and political decadence. The treatises "Why Should We Obey the Law" and “The Clouds” in this collection of essays placed him as one of the most profound and interesting thinkers to have emerged from Africa, worthy of study.In 2018, his collection of poetry titled Drums of War was released, which establishes him as a poet with great command of the African imagery. His work at Knowledgegates, an Information Technology company he co-founded in 2006, led him to co-write and publish, in 2014, the book Teach Yourself Computers: A Practical Guide to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher and Internet Applications. Katulwende is the owner of the Thorn Bird Literary Agency in Lusaka and editor at the Zambian magazine The Zambian Teacher. Publications

Books:
 Under the African Skies: Poetry form Zambia, Zambia Women Writers Association (2001), 142 p.
 Bitterness (novel), New York: Mondial (2005), 288 p.
 The Fire At The Core: Discourses on Aesthetics, Music, Jurisprudence, Ethno-Politics and Good Governance (essays), New York: Mondial (2011), 218 p.
 (with James Kapesa) Teach Yourself Computers: A Practical Guide to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher and Internet Applications, Lusaka: Mafinga Publishers Limited (2014), 376 p.
 Drums of War (poetry), AuthorHouseUK (2018), 92 p.

Other Texts (Selection):
 Re-evaluating Mwanawasa's legacy, 3rd Edition. In: Zambian Economist, 13 October 2008
 The Lumpa Massacre. In: Zambian Economist, 27 March 2010
 A dogged abuse of copyright rules.... In: Zambian Economist, 29 August 2010
 Foreword to: This Time, Tomorrow.A Compendium of Laboured Voices from the Zambian Komboni – an anthology of poems composed by the late Mwange Kauseni, edited by <mask> Katulwende
 Zambia’s Kalindula Music: Death, Drums, And Poetry. In: The Culture Trip, 20 October 2016
 Classroom Questions and Their Formulation. In: The Zambian Teacher, 29 January 2018
 Schemes of Work. In: The Zambian Teacher, 8 July 2018
 Teaching As An Art and As A Science. In: The Zambian Teacher, 8 July 2018
 How To Create A Lesson Plan. In: The Zambian Teacher, 26 October 2018

The Novel Bitterness

For this novel published in 2005 in New York, the author received the Julius Chongo Award 2006 for Best Creative Writing at the Ngoma Awards Ceremony. "Tribal and social affiliations and the student riots at the University of Zambia, in a captivating and intelligent story about love, political involvement and individual responsibilities.This is one of the most realistic and passionate contemporary novels about the life of young people in today's Africa, written by <mask> <mask>, a Zambian poet and intellectual. It describes the seeming incompatibility of old African traditions and modern life, depicts the political struggle of Zambia's students, and the hope and despair of the book's main character, his family, lover, and friends. Based on real events, this novel provides an insight into African history, daily life, and culture, at the example of an oppressive society. Imagine Europe's revolts of 1968 in Austral Africa..." (From the back cover). "<mask> Katulwende’s Bitterness was published in 2005 by Mondial in New York. It is a Bildungsroman, it is not only a boy’s growth from childhood to adulthood but also his psychological growth from ignorance to an open minded awareness of himself. In order for this transformation to take place, the protagonist Besa must defy all odds and defy his family’s wishes.His journey takes him from his home village in Samfya to the University of Zambia,
back to his village and finally Lusaka. – The novel mixes fact and fiction. Although the characters are fictional, the settings are real places which a reader may recognise when reading. The University of Zambia for example is a factual place. One may further realise that the timing of the novel in terms of duration is realistic. For example the time Besa spends at the university is believable. Further, the plot is believable because it fits into the real world’s dimension and even gives the impression that such a story has happened before in the real world.While this technique of blending fact and fiction helps to make the story believable, it raises complexity in that one can no longer differentiate fact from fiction." (Mwaka Siluonde, cf. note 20)

"Published by Mondial in New York, the 281-page novel resonates with the anger of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, the pessimism of Ayi Kwei Armah and the lyricism of Chinua Achebe, but in his own voice, Katulwende explains why the centre can no longer hold in a land where a beggar who stretches out his hand for a cob of maize is beaten to death by an angry, blood thirsty mob, and where youth is powerless against the inscrutability of a future which runs like a river with no end... In his view, things are falling apart because the shrine is no more. The gods of his forefathers are dead and his people have befriended those who have always stood against them, imitating their ways and worshipping their gods. At this point, Katulwende's anger slowly crystallizes into an Africanist ideology." (Excerpt from Edem Djokotoe's book review A Taste Of Bittersweet Bile.In: The Post (Zambia) - February 24, 2006)

Texts about Malama Katulwende

 Malama Katulwende: A Zambian Literary Voice (Culture Trip, 11 October 2016)
 Kelvin Kachingwe: Mwange Kauseni's anthology of poems published. In: Zambia Daily Mail Limited, 1 February 2017

References

External links
 Malama Katulwende's Facebook Page
 Bitterness page on the website of Mondial (Katulwende's publisher in New York, NY)
 Page of The Fire at the Core on the website of Mondial (Katulwende's publisher in New York, NY)

Zambian novelists
21st-century Zambian writers
Zambian non-fiction writers
Zambian poets
1967 births
Living people

masks:
Malama Katulde
Malama
Malama
Katulwende
Malama


title: Hsieh Su-wei

texts:
<mask>i ( ; Taiwanese Mandarin: ; born 4 January 1986) is a Taiwanese professional tennis player. She has won three singles titles and 30 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, one WTA 125 tournaments doubles title, 27 singles and 23 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit, seven medals at the Asian Games (2 gold, 3 silver, and 2 bronze), 1 gold and bronze medal at the 2005 Summer Universiade, and has amassed over $10 million in prize money. On 25 February 2013, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 23, and on 12 May 2014, she reached world No. 1 in the doubles rankings for the first time; she has spent a total of 45 weeks with the top ranking, tied with Ai Sugiyama for the longest tenure by a tennis player from the Far East. Hsieh is the highest-ranked Taiwanese player in history, in both singles and doubles. Known for playing with two hands on both sides, flat and quick groundstrokes, crafty gameplay, aggressive volleys, and unorthodox variety of shots, Hsieh is regarded as one of the most successful and versatile doubles players in history.She has won four Grand Slam titles in doubles, claiming the 2013 Wimbledon Championships and the 2014 French Open with Peng Shuai (with whom she also won the 2013 WTA Championships), the 2019 Wimbledon Championships with Barbora Strýcová, and the 2021 Wimbledon Championships with Elise Mertens. Hsieh and Strýcová also were the runners-up at both the 2019 WTA Finals and the 2020 Australian Open. She also reached the quarterfinals in doubles at the 2012 London Olympics with compatriot Chuang Chia-jung. Though Hsieh has yet to win a Grand Slam on hardcourts, most of her titles have come on hardcourts, including seven of her WTA 1000 titles. While she is primarily known for her doubles prowess, Hsieh has also found success on the singles tour. Most of her singles success has come on hard courts, where she has won all three of her WTA titles, as well as reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in 2021, a Premier 5 semifinal at the Dubai Tennis Championships in 2019, and a Premier Mandatory quarterfinal at the Miami Open in 2019 (defeating world No. 1 Naomi Osaka in the third round).She has also been successful on other surfaces, including reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2018 (defeating world No. 1, Simona Halep in the third round) and the third round of the French Open in 2017. Hsieh has recorded singles victories over several top 15, top 10 and top 5 players. Hsieh is one of two active female players with over 500 career wins in both singles and doubles, the other being Lucie Hradecka. She is also the first Taiwanese female player to reach a Grand Slam singles quarterfinal, achieved at the 2021 Australian Open. At 35, she became the oldest debutante Grand Slam quarterfinalist. Biography
Hsieh was born to parents Hsieh Tze-lung and Ho Fom-ju in Hsinchu and raised in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.She was introduced to tennis by her father at five years of age. Her younger sister, Hsieh Shu-ying, and brother Hsieh Cheng-peng are also professional tennis players. Hsieh named her tennis idols as Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi. She has trained at a Taipei tennis school run by Hu Na, a former mainland Chinese player who defected to the US in 1982. After Hsieh won the 2013 Wimbledon ladies' doubles title, her father said that a Chinese company had offered her a sponsorship deal worth 10 million yuan ($1.63 million) per year, on the condition that she switch her citizenship to the People's Republic of China. His remarks caused controversy in Taiwan as Hsieh stated that she would consider taking the offer. In response, the government of Taiwan mobilized domestic companies to offer her competing deals.Playing style
Hsieh has a unique and unorthodox style of play compared to most other players. She made a quip at the 2018 Australian Open saying, "Actually, my boyfriend was looking at her [Kerber] game earlier this morning. I forgot to ask him what she play, so, I actually have no plan to go on the court. So I was trying to go my Su-wei style, you know." Despite her slight build and comparatively short stature, her two-handed groundstrokes are flat, powerful, and are hit with depth. She incorporates sliced backhands and forehands, drop shots, lobs, volleys, and sharply angled groundstrokes into points, and has been noted for her technical mastery, intelligent style of play, and impressive point construction. For these reasons, and due to the overall completeness of her game, she has been nicknamed by commentators "The Wizard".Many top players have praised her unusual playing style. Maria Sharapova, after her third-round win over Hsieh at Wimbledon 2012, said, "I faced her many times in the juniors. She used to be a nightmare for me because she used to slice and dropshot on clay. I was like, 'Where did they learn how to play tennis like that?' She uses both hands, switches racquets. That's her game: it's to hit a lot of dropshots and slices and get people kind of crazy. We used to have real battles in the juniors.I knew her game really well and I don't think she had time to do all of that today on grass. If I'm hitting a hard‑paced shot, I don't think she really has time to create, which is something that she really likes to do." Professional career

Early years
During the 2001 Australian Open Junior Grand Slam event, Hsieh reached the girls' singles quarterfinals and the round of 16 in the girls doubles event with partner Natalie Ko, losing in two sets to eventual champions, Petra Cetkovská and Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová. Hsieh displayed stunning results in the 2001 season as a 15-year-old. Playing on the ITF Women's Circuit, she won all of the five events she entered at Wellington, Kaohsiung, Bangkok (twice), and Peachtree City from January until November. Hsieh also competed on her first two WTA Tour events, reaching the semifinals in Bali and the quarterfinals in Pattaya. Although she only played seven tournaments in 2001, she had an impressive 41–2 record, in addition to starting her career with 37 wins in a row.She had success on the doubles circuit as well, reaching two finals and winning one of them. She played in the qualifying rounds of all four Grand Slam tournaments in 2002, but was unable to advance to the main draw in any of them. After a quiet 2003, Hsieh experienced an upswing in her doubles in 2004, reaching five finals on the ITF Circuit and winning a pair of titles in Incheon and New Delhi. In October 2004, she reached her first WTA doubles final at the Korea Open at the age of 18, where she and compatriot Chuang Chia-jung were beaten by hometown players Cho Yoon-jeong and Jeon Mi-ra. She made her Grand Slam main-draw debut in 2005 by qualifying at the US Open, where she was beaten by Katarina Srebotnik in the opening round. By the end of the year, she had won 10 singles titles and 11 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. 2006–2007: First WTA doubles titles
In 2006, Hsieh lost in the final qualifying round at the Australian Open to former top-20 player Tamarine Tanasugarn but won her first main draw Grand Slam match en route to the second round in the women's doubles tournament.She was more successful at the next two Grand Slams though. Qualifying to the main draw of the French Open for the first time, Hsieh was defeated in the opening round by local wildcard Mathilde Johansson. She also qualified to her first main draw at Wimbledon, but was beaten in her first match by the 23rd seed Anabel Medina Garrigues, while also losing in the first round in doubles. Hsieh failed to qualify for the US Open, though, falling at the final hurdle to Kirsten Flipkens. She was able to produce much stronger results on the ITF Circuit, reaching two singles and six doubles finals, and winning one singles and four doubles titles respectively. The following year, Hsieh once again failed to qualify for either the Australian or US Opens, but qualified for the main draw at both the French Open and Wimbledon, where she lost in the first round both times. In doubles, she fell in the first round at three of the Grand Slam events, but made it to the second round at the French Open.Hsieh made a breakthrough though in doubles, starting with reaching two finals in Auckland and Bangalore in the first two months of the year with different partners. She then earned the biggest wins of her career with compatriot Chuang Chia-jung as the pair won the China Open, a Tier II tournament. This marked Hsieh's first title of any kind on the WTA Tour. They won a second title together the following week at the Hansol Korea Open, where she had reached her first WTA final three years earlier. She once again performed well on the ITF level, winning a pair of titles in both singles and doubles. While she finished the year ranked No. 143 in singles, she snagged her first year-end top-50 ranking in doubles, also her first top-100 ranking, by finishing 46th in the world.2008: Singles breakthrough
Hsieh started 2008 by winning three matches to qualify for the Australian Open, where she won her first main-draw Grand Slam match, defeating Klára Zakopalová in three sets. In the second round, she beat 19th seed Sybille Bammer and defeated Aravane Rezaï in the third round to become first Taiwanese tennis player to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam. She then lost in the fourth round to the world No. 1, Justine Henin, in straight sets. The result would lift her into the top 100 for the first time. She reached the doubles final at the Thailand Open in February with Vania King, losing to compatriots Chuang and Chan Yung-jan. In March, Hsieh played at Indian Wells, losing in the first round to Elena Vesnina in three sets.A week later, she lost again, this time in the first round of qualifying, to Tatiana Poutchek in Miami. These two defeats saw her ranking fall to 116. At the end of April, <mask> entered the ITF tournament in Incheon as the first seed, and won the tournament, defeating Chinese player Yanze Xie in three sets. As a result of this win, her ranking rose to No. 99. At the French Open, she was defeated by qualifier Anastasiya Yakimova in the first round. In June, she had her best Wimbledon ladies' singles result to date by making it to the second round.She beat Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro in the first round, claiming her first victory in her third main draw appearance at Wimbledon, before falling to No. 9 seed and French Open runner-up, Dinara Safina. At the Cincinnati Open, Hsieh lost in the first round in singles, but made it to the finals in doubles with Kazakh partner Yaroslava Shvedova. However, the pair were topped by the Russian duo of Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova in a third set super-tiebreak. She then went on to record her first main draw win at the US Open over Evgeniya Rodina before losing to Petrova in the second round. Hsieh then managed to end the year strong by winning the Bali International with Peng Shuai and defending her title in Korea with compatriot Chuang. She finished the year ranked inside the top 100 in singles for the first time, at No.79, and 53rd in doubles. 2009: Becoming a top-10 doubles player
Hsieh opened the 2009 season by winning the doubles title with Peng at her first tournament of the year, the Premier-level Sydney International, defeating Nathalie Dechy and hometown favorite Casey Dellacqua in the final. At the Australian Open, she was upset by compatriot Chan Yung-jan in the first round of women's singles. As a result, she dropped out of top 100. In women's doubles, however, she and Peng fared much better. As the 16th seeds, the pair recorded back to back three set wins to advance to the third round, where they pulled off a major upset with a straight sets win over the second seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual, losing just one game, thereby advancing Hsieh to her first major quarterfinals. However, the pair was defeated in the last eight by the eventual champions, tenth-seeded Serena Williams and Venus Williams.Despite struggling the rest of the year in singles, winning just one WTA Tour main-draw match at the Guangzhou International later on in September, Hsieh put together her most prolific year in doubles thus far. After a pair of early exits in Indian Wells and Stuttgart, Hsieh and Peng advanced to the final of the Italian Open, a Premier-5 tournament, where they were seeded seventh. They then defeated the fifth seeds, Daniela Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama, to win the title. This was Hsieh's sixth WTA doubles title, and the biggest of her career thus far. After making the quarterfinals in Madrid, Hsieh broke into the top 20 for the first time. She concluded her clay-court season by partnering with Peng at the French Open. Seeded ninth, the two posted three easy straight set wins, including their second in a month over Hantuchová and Sugiyama, to advance to the quarterfinals.Despite being a set down, the pair managed to come back and grind out a three set win over the Polish sister duo Agnieszka Radwańska and Urszula Radwańska, advancing Hsieh to her first Grand Slam semifinal, However, Hsieh and Peng were beaten by Victoria Azarenka and Elena Vesnina in straight sets. Nonetheless, their strong performance lifted Hsieh inside the top 15. Hsieh and Peng struggled following their Roland Garros run, losing five of their next seven matches, including an opening round loss at Wimbledon, their only grass-court tournament, and a second round defeat at the US Open. Hsieh was successful though in mixed doubles at both majors, partnering Zimbabwe's Kevin Ullyett en route to a Wimbledon quarterfinal and US Open semifinal. However, the duo were able to come together at their final tournament of the year, the China Open, where they won the title without dropping a set. This was their third title of the year together, Hsieh's seventh career doubles title, her first Premier Mandatory title, and the biggest of her career. Following this result, she made her top 10 debut in the doubles rankings.She finished the year ranked No. 9 in the world. 2010–2011
Hsieh lost in the first round of the Guangzhou International Open to Han Xinyun. This was her only main-draw WTA match of 2010. At Wimbledon, she reached the semifinals of mixed doubles, with Australia's Paul Hanley. Partnering Zheng Jie, she won the doubles event at the Guangzhou International Open. Playing primarily on the ITF Circuit for singles in 2011, Hsieh won three titles, a $25k in Mildura, a $75k in Beijing, and a $25k in Seoul, while also finishing as the runner-up at the $25k in Fergana.She also reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open with Chuang, falling to Azarenka and Kirilenko, and won one WTA doubles title in Guangzhou with Zheng Saisai, her eighth career title and first in two years. 2012: Singles resurgence: Wimbledon third round, two WTA singles titles
Hsieh experienced a career resurgence to her singles game during the 2012 season. After falling in her second qualifying match in Melbourne, Hsieh reached her first ever WTA singles semifinal at the Pattaya Open in Thailand, after having to qualify for the main draw. This result brought her singles ranking back inside the top 150. At the next tournament, the hard-court Malaysian Open at the beginning of March, she breezed through the qualifying tournament as the top seed, en route to advancing to her first WTA singles final. Despite dropping the first set, she won the title after her opponent, Petra Martić, was forced to retire while trailing 4–1 in the final set due to severe cramping and fatigue. This marked Hsieh's first career singles title on the WTA Tour.She also returned to the top 100 for the first time since January 2009 following her victory. Also playing sporadically in ITF tournaments, she won the

masks:
Hsieh Su we
Hsieh


title: Hsieh Su-wei

texts:
 advance to the third round for the first time at the French Open, and the first time at any Grand Slam since Wimbledon in 2012. She was defeated by hometown favorite Caroline Garcia in an intense three-set match, where the final set went to 9–7 in favor of Garcia.Hsieh also reached the final of the Hua Hin Championships, a WTA 125k series event, in November, her biggest singles final in five years, but lost to former top-ten player Belinda Bencic. After a difficult 2016, Hsieh also managed to recapture some of her strong doubles form. Partnering Oksana Kalashnikova, they won the Budapest Grand Prix in February, her 18th career WTA doubles title, and her first since winning the French Open in 2014. Throughout the season, she played alongside a multitude of different female players, but found the most success working with Monica Niculescu. With the Romanian, they won inaugural version of the Swiss Ladies Open in April, reached the final of the Cincinnati Masters, and reached the third round of the US Open. Additionally, she won a $100k doubles title in May at Cagnes-sur-Mer with Chang Kai-chen, her 23rd ITF doubles title, and the WTA 125 doubles title in Hawaii in November with her younger sister, <mask> Shu-ying. She finished the year ranked No.32 in doubles, a very substantial improvement from the previous year. 2018: Grand Slam singles success, third singles title
Hsieh opened the season by reaching the semifinals at the Auckland Open, her first WTA singles semifinal since the Taiwan Open in February 2016. She lost to eventual champion Julia Görges. Hsieh's next tournament came at the Australian Open. After coming from behind to defeat Zhu Lin in her opening match, she caused the biggest upset of the tournament thus far by defeating the third seed and reigning Wimbledon champion, Garbiñe Muguruza, in straight sets. She continued this impressive display by taking out 26th seed and former world No. 2, Agnieszka Radwanska, in straight sets to reach the fourth round of a major event for the first time since she did so at the Australian Open ten years earlier.Facing Angelique Kerber, she won the first set, but was ultimately defeated by the German player. Hsieh also had a successful doubles tournament, reaching the semifinals with Peng Shuai, her best performance in a slam since they won the French Open. She returned to inside the top 75 of the singles rankings and the top 30 of the doubles rankings after the Australian Open. After the Australian Open, Hsieh had a relatively quiet rest of the early hardcourt season singles-wise. After losing the qualifying rounds in Doha and Dubai, and a second-round loss at the Oracle Challenge, Hsieh qualified into the main draw at Indian Wells and progressed to the second round. Her best result came at the Miami Open where she advanced to the third round for the first time, losing to Karolína Plíšková. She had a very successful doubles performance, though, reaching the final in Dubai with Peng, and winning the Indian Wells title with Barbora Strýcová, her 20th career WTA doubles title.This victory put her back in the top 20 of the doubles rankings. The clay-court season delivered mixed results for Hsieh. While she notched a couple of good singles placements, reaching the semifinals at the Morocco Open and the quarterfinals in Strasbourg, she didn't do as well in doubles, falling in the second round in Madrid and Rome, and the first round at the French Open for both singles and doubles. Hsieh played two grass-court warm-up tournaments before Wimbledon. In Mallorca, she suffered two first round losses, to Caroline Garcia in singles, and Anastasia Rodionova and Nadiia Kichenok in doubles, but fared better in Eastbourne with a third-round appearance in singles and the semifinals in doubles. Her singles performance was enough to push her ranking inside the top 50 for the first time since September 2013. Unseeded and placed in a very difficult top quarter, Hsieh opened up her Wimbledon campaign with a first round win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, followed by a straight sets victory over Lara Arruabarrena Vecino to advance to the third round at Wimbledon for the first time in six years.She then recorded the biggest victory of her career by upsetting world No. 1, Simona Halep, who had just won the French Open four weeks prior, in a tight three setter where she had to come from a set down and save match points, thus advancing to her second Grand Slam fourth round of the year, and her first ever outside of the Australian Open. She lost her next match to Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets. She didn't fare quite as well in doubles, losing in the third round. Nonetheless, her singles performance saw her return inside the top 40. In the US Open Series, Hsieh played in the qualifying rounds for two tournaments, the Cincinnati Open and New Haven Open, but failed to qualify to the main draw in either. Despite a first round doubles loss in Cincinnati, she reached the doubles final in New Haven with partner Laura Siegemund, but they were beaten by Andrea Sestini Hlaváčková and Strýcová.Hsieh next participated at the US Open, where she reached the second round in singles and the third round in doubles. Hsieh continued her amazing comeback at her next tournament, the Japan Open. Seeded second, she defeated Polona Hercog, Mandy Minella, Ajla Tomljanović, and Wang Qiang en route to the final. Facing 17-year old American Amanda Anisimova, one of the youngest players on tour, Hsieh defeated the young upstart in straight sets to win her third career WTA singles title, and her first in six years. As a result of her victory, her singles ranking returned inside the top 30 since February 2013. At the Korea Open immediately after, Hsieh reached the semifinals in the singles tournament before falling to Tomljanović, and made the doubles final with her sister Hsieh Yu-chieh, but they fell to the all-Korean team of Choi Ji-hee and Han Na-lae. The remainder of Hsieh's results for the season were uneventful, exceptful for another semifinal singles appearance at the Tianjin Open, where she was beaten again by Garcia.Thanks to her renaissance career year in singles, consistent results, and the withdrawals of a few higher-ranked players, Hsieh was invited to serve as the second alternate to the Elite Trophy, which she accepted, although she did not end up competing. She finished the year ranked No. 28 in singles, her best finish since 2012, and No. 17 in doubles. 2019: Wimbledon doubles champion, consistent results all around

Hsieh started the year strong with another semifinal run at the Auckland Open, where she fell to qualifier Bianca Andreescu, then a second round loss in Sydney to Petra Kvitová. At the Australian Open, she was seeded 28th in the singles draw, her first seed in any Grand Slam tournament since 2013. After tallying easy wins over Stefanie Vögele and Laura Siegemund, she would succumb to world No.4 and reigning US Open champion, Naomi Osaka, in the third round. Despite winning the first set and obtaining a 4–1 lead in the second, Osaka, who went on to win the tournament and claim the world No. 1 ranking, won eleven of the last twelve games to come back and claim the match. She teamed up with Abigail Spears in the women's doubles tournament, where the pair was seeded eighth, but they were upset by eventual champions, Sam Stosur and Zhang Shuai, in the second round. After early round losses at the Thailand Open in singles and the Qatar Open in singles and doubles, Hsieh regained her form at the year's first Premier-5 event, the Dubai Championships. Unseeded in the singles draw, she breezed past tenth seed Anastasija Sevastova in the first round and Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the second round. She then caused a huge upset in the third round by defeating former world No.1 and reigning Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber in three sets. In the quarterfinals, she posted another comeback three-set win over the fourth seed Karolína Plíšková, winning the last six games in a row after being down 5-1 and on a nine-game losing streak in the final set to advance to her first Premier-5 semifinal. Facing Kvitová for the second time in two months, she was unable to get revenge on the Czech and lost in three sets despite winning the first. Hsieh also played doubles in Dubai, reuniting with Barbora Strýcová. Seeded third, the pair went on to win the title defeating Lucie Hradecká and Ekaterina Makarova in the final in two sets. She next played at Indian Wells, losing her only singles match to Johanna Konta and reaching the quarterfinals in doubles. Seeded 27th at the Miami Open, Hsieh defeated Alison Riske in her first match to set up a rematch with Osaka in the third round.This time, it was Hsieh who came back from both a set down and a service break down in the second and third sets to upend the Australian Open champion, her second victory over a world No. 1 in the last twelve months. She continued her great run by defeating former world No. 1 and 13th seed, Caroline Wozniacki, in the fourth round to advance to her first Premier Mandatory quarterfinal, where her tournament came to an end against the 21st seeded Estonian Anett Kontaveit. Hsieh had a quiet clay-court season in singles, her best result coming in Morocco where she reached the quarterfinals. However, she continued her doubles success with Strýcová as the pair won their second Premier Mandatory doubles title at the Madrid Open, defeating Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yifan in the final. She concluded her clay-court season at the French Open.Seeded 25th in singles, Hsieh was defeated by 2014 French Open semifinalist Andrea Petkovic in the second round. In doubles, she was seeded third with Strýcová, but they were upset in the third round by Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko. During the early grass-court season events, Hsieh and Strýcova won their third doubles title of the year at the Birmingham Classic. At Wimbledon, they reached their first Grand Slam final as a pair after defeating Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka, who won the Sunshine Double earlier that year, in the quarterfinals and the top seeded team of Babos and Mladenovic in the semis. They then defeated Dabrowski and Xu in the final to win their first Grand Slam together, without dropping a set. This gave Hsieh her second Wimbledon title, and third Grand Slam title overall. She also posted another solid result in singles, reaching the third round before falling to Plíšková.During the summer hardcourt season between Wimbledon and the US Open, Hsieh struggled in both singles and doubles. Her best showings came in singles at the Washington Open, where she lost to young American Caty McNally in the quarterfinals, and the third round of the Premier 5 Cincinnati Open, losing to Osaka in three sets in the pairs third meeting of 2019. At the US Open, she lost to Wimbledon quarterfinalist Karolína Muchová in the second round in singles, while in doubles she and Strýcová were beaten in the third round by Kichenok and Ostapenko. Nonetheless, Hsieh and Strýcová became the first doubles team to qualify for the 2019 WTA Finals during the US Open. Hsieh posted mixed results during the Asian hard-court season for singles and doubles. Her best singles result came at the Japan Open, where she was the defending champion and the number-one seed for the first time in a WTA singles tournament in her career. However, she was upset by Nao Hibino in the quarterfinals.In doubles, she made the final of the Pan Pacific Open with her sister <mask> Yu-chieh, where they were beaten by fellow-Taiwanese siblings Latisha Chan and Angel Chan. However, she and Strýcová came into the WTA Finals on a three-match losing streak after posting consecutive first-round losses in Wuhan and Beijing. Seeded second, the pair dropped their opening match to Dabrowski and Xu, but beat Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková, and Stosur and Zhang in their next two matches to finish first in the Purple Group. They defeated the No. 8 seeds Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Demi Schuurs in the semifinals, but were beaten by the defending champions, Babos and Mladenovic, in the final. Hsieh finished the year ranked No. 32 in singles and No.4 in doubles, her first top-ten finish since 2014. 2020: Back to No. 1 in doubles
Hsieh and Strýcová won the first tournament of the year at Brisbane. They followed that up with an appearance in the final at the Australian Open, where they lost to Babos and Mladenovic. Two more tournament victories followed in February: at Dubai and Doha. As a result, Hsieh regained her No. 1 doubles ranking for the first time since 6 July 2014.Her gap of 5 years, 6 months and 28 days between being her separate No. 1 doubles rankings is the second longest in history behind Martina Hingis gap of 15 years, 9 months, and 30 days, which spanned from March 2000 to January 2016. 2021: First Grand Slam singles quarterfinal, third Wimbledon and Indian Wells Masters 1000 doubles titles
Hsieh began the year at the Abu Dhabi Open, where she partnered with Krejčíková, and was upset by Aoyama and Shibahara in the quarterfinals. After a first-round loss at the Melbourne Open, she entered the Australian Open in both singles and doubles, pairing again with Strýcová. While the veteran pair were upset in the second round by the unseeded team of Darija Jurak and Nina Stojanović, Hsieh defeated qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova, US Open champion Bianca Andreescu, and French Open finalists Sara Errani and Markéta Vondroušová to reach her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal in singles. At age 35, she became the oldest debutante at a Grand Slam quarterfinal, where she lost to Naomi Osaka in straight sets. At Wimbledon, Hsieh partnered with Elise Mertens to win the doubles title for the third time, beating Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Vesnina in the final, after saving two championship points.In Indian Wells, Hsieh and Mertens won the doubles title, defeating Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Rybakina in the final. It was Hsieh's third Indian Wells doubles title, each with a different partner, and her 12th WTA 1000 title overall. Following Indian Wells, she returned to No. 1 in doubles (since September 2021). Hsieh and Mertens qualified for the WTA Finals in doubles. They reached the final, where they lost to Barbora Krejčíková and Katerina Siniaková 6–3, 6–4. Hsieh finished the year ranked as the world number 3 in doubles.Before the WTA Finals in 2021, Hsieh wrote on her Facebook page that she was taking an extended break after the Finals to heal an on-going injury. Career statistics

Grand Slam performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Grand Slam tournament finals

Doubles: 5 (4 titles, 1 runner-up)

Year-end championships finals

Doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)

References

External links

1986 births
Living people
Asian Games medalists in tennis
Hopman Cup competitors
Olympic tennis players of Taiwan
Taiwanese female tennis players
Tennis players at the 2010 Asian Games
Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2002 Asian Games
Tennis players at the 2006 Asian Games
French Open champions
Wimbledon champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles
Tennis players at the 2014 Asian Games
Taiwanese people of Hakka descent
Hakka sportspeople
People from Hsinchu
Asian Games gold medalists for Chinese Taipei
Asian Games silver medalists for Chinese Taipei
Asian Games bronze medalists for Chinese Taipei
Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games
Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games
Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games
Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games
Universiade medalists in tennis
Universiade gold medalists for Chinese Taipei
Universiade bronze medalists for Chinese Taipei
Medalists at the 2005 Summer

masks: Hsieh Hsieh


title: Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark)

texts:
<mask>na (; 26 November 1847 – 13 October 1928), known before her marriage as Princess <mask> of Denmark, was a Danish princess who became Empress of Russia as spouse of Emperor Alexander III. Her eldest son became the last Russian monarch, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia – she lived for 10 years after Bolshevik functionaries killed him and his immediate family in 1918. Appearance and personality
Dagmar was known for her beauty. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge said that Dagmar was "sweetly pretty" and commented favorably on her "splendid dark eyes." Her fiancee Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich was enthusiastic about her beauty. He wrote to his mother that "she is even prettier in real life than in the portraits that we had seen so far. Her eyes speak for her: they are so kind, intelligent, animated."When she was tsarevna, Thomas W. Knox met her at Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia's wedding and wrote favorably about her beauty compared to that of the bride, Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He wrote that Dagmar was "less inclined to stoutness than the bride, she does not display such a plumpness of shoulder, and her neck rises more swan-like and gives fuller play to her finely formed head, with its curly hair and Grecian outline of face." He also commented favorably on "her keen, clear, and flashing eyes." Dagmar was intelligent. When considering Dagmar for her second son Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Queen Victoria judged that "Dagmar is cleverer [than Alexandra]... she is a very nice girl." When she married, she didn't know how to speak any Russian. However, within a few years, she mastered the language and was so proficient that her husband wrote to her in Russian.She told an American minister to Russia that "the Russian language is full of power and beauty, it equals the Italian in music, the English in vigorous power and copiousness." She claimed that "for compactness of expression," Russian rivaled "Latin, and for the making of new words is equal to the Greek." Dagmar was very fashionable. John Logan, a visitor to Russia, described her as "the best dressed woman in Europe." He claimed that Empress Elisabeth of Austria "excelled her in beauty" but that "no one touched" her "in frocks." Charles Frederick Worth, a Parisian couturier, greatly admired her style. He said, "Bring to me any woman in Europe-- queen, artiste, or bourgeoise-- who can inspire me as does Madame Her Majesty, and I will make her confections while I live and charge her nothing."Dagmar was very charming and likable. After meeting her, Thomas W. Knox wrote, "No wonder the emperor likes her, and no wonder the Russians like her. I like her, and I am neither emperor nor any other Russian, and never exchanged a thousand words with her in my life." <mask> Bock, the daughter of Pyotr Stolypin, wrote, "kind, amiable, simple in her discourse, <mask>vna was an Empress from head to toe, combining an inborn majesty with such goodness that she was idolized by all who knew her." Meriel Buchanan wrote that she possessed a "gracious and delightful charm of manner." Andrew Dickson White, the U.S. minister to Russia, said that she was "graceful, with a most kindly face and manner" and that she was "in every way cordial and kindly." Nadine Wonar-Larsky, her lady-in-waiting, noted that "her smile cheered everyone and her gracious manner always suggested a touch of personal feeling which went straight to the hearts of her subjects.She also possessed that priceless royal gift of never forgetting a face or name." Early life

Princess Marie Sophie Frederikke Dagmar was born at the Yellow Palace, an 18th-century town house at 18 Amaliegade, immediately adjacent to the Amalienborg Palace complex in Copenhagen. Her father was Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a member of a princely cadet line. Her mother was Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel. She was baptised as a Lutheran and named after her kinswoman Marie Sophie of Hesse-Kassel, Queen Dowager of Denmark as well as the medieval Danish queen, Dagmar of Bohemia. Her godmother was Queen Caroline Amalie of Denmark. Growing up, she was known by the name Dagmar.Most of her life, she was known as <mask>vna, the name which she took when she converted to Orthodoxy immediately before her 1866 marriage to the future Emperor Alexander III. She was known within her family as "Minnie". In 1852 Dagmar's father became heir-presumptive to the throne of Denmark, largely due to the succession rights of his wife Louise as niece of King Christian VIII. In 1853, he was given the title Prince of Denmark and he and his family were given an official summer residence, Bernstorff Palace. Dagmar's father became King of Denmark in 1863 upon the death of King Frederick VII. Due to the brilliant marital alliances of his children, he became known as the "Father-in-law of Europe." Dagmar's eldest brother would succeed his father as King Frederick VIII of Denmark (one of whose sons would be elected as King of Norway).Her elder, and favourite, sister, Alexandra married Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) in March 1863. Alexandra, along with being queen consort of King Edward VII, was also mother of George V of the United Kingdom, which helps to explain the striking resemblance between their sons Nicholas II and George V. Within months of Alexandra's marriage, <mask>'s second older brother, Wilhelm, was elected as King George I of the Hellenes. Her younger sister was Thyra, Duchess of Cumberland. She also had another younger brother, Valdemar. During her upbringing, Dagmar, together with her sister Alexandra, was given swimming lessons by the Swedish pioneer of swimming for women, Nancy Edberg; she would later welcome Edberg to Russia, where she came on royal scholarship to hold swimming lessons for women. Engagements and marriage
  Due to the rise of Slavophile ideology in the Russian Empire, Alexander II of Russia searched for a bride for the heir apparent, Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich, in countries other than the German states that had traditionally provided consorts for the tsars. In 1864, Nicholas, or "Nixa" as he was known in his family, went to Denmark and proposed to Dagmar.Her future mother-in-law <mask> (Marie of Hesse) gave her a pearl necklace and Nicholas gave her diamonds. In total, the betrothal gifts Dagmar received from her future in-laws cost 1.5 million rubles. Dagmar unsuccessfully asked her future father-in-law to help Denmark against Prussia over the disputed territory of Schleswig-Holstein. In a letter, she asked Alexander II of Russia: "Use your power to mitigate the terrible conditions which the Germans have brutally forced Papa to accept... the sad plight of my fatherland, which makes my heart heavy, has inspired me to turn to you." As Nicholas continued on his journey to Florence, Dagmar and Nicholas exchanged daily love letters for months. When he grew ill, Nicholas sent fewer letters and Dagmar teasingly asked him if he had fallen in love with "a dark-eyed Italian." In April, Nicholas grew gravely ill with cerebrospinal meningitis.Alexander II of Russia sent a telegram to Dagmar: "Nicholas has received the Last Rites. Pray for us and come if you can." On 22 April 1865, Nicholas died in the presence of his parents, brothers, and Dagmar. His last wish was that Dagmar would marry his younger brother, the future Alexander III. Dagmar was devastated by Nicholas' death. Nicholas' parents struggled to "pull Princess Dagmar away from the corpse and carry her out." She was so heartbroken when she returned to her homeland that her relatives were seriously worried about her health.She had already become emotionally attached to Russia and often thought of the huge, remote country that was to have been her home. Many were sympathetic towards Dagmar. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge wrote of "poor dear Minny's sorrow and the blight which has fallen upon her young life." Queen Victoria wrote "how terrible for poor Dagmar... the poor parents and bride are most deeply to be pitied." Alexander II of Russia and <mask>na had grown fond of Dagmar, and they wanted her to marry their new heir, Tsarevich Alexander. In an affectionate letter, Alexander II told Dagmar that he hoped she would still consider herself a member of their family. <mask>na tried to convince Louise of Hesse-Kassel to send Dagmar to Russia immediately, but Louise insisted that Dagmar must "strengthen her nerves... [and] avoid emotional upsets."In June 1866, Tsarevich Alexander visited Copenhagen with his brothers Grand Duke Vladimir and Grand Duke Alexei. While looking over photographs of Nicholas, Alexander asked Dagmar if "she could love him after having loved Nixa, to whom they were both devoted." She answered that she could love no one but him, because he had been so close to his brother. Alexander recalled that "we both burst into tears... [and] I told her that my dear Nixa helped us much in this situation and that now of course he prays about our happiness." Dagmar left Copenhagen on 1 September 1866. Hans Christian Andersen, who had occasionally been invited to tell stories to Dagmar and her siblings when they were children, was among the crowd which flocked to the quay in order to see her off. The writer remarked in his diary, "Yesterday, at the quay, while passing me by, she stopped and took me by the hand.My eyes were full of tears. What a poor child! Oh Lord, be kind and merciful to her! They say that there is a brilliant court in Saint Petersburg and the tsar's family is nice; still, she heads for an unfamiliar country, where people are different and religion is different and where she will have none of her former acquaintances by her side." Dagmar was warmly welcomed in Kronstadt by Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaevich of Russia and escorted to St. Petersburg, where she was greeted by her future mother-in-law and sister-in-law on 24 September. On the 29th, she made her formal entry in to the Russian capital dressed in a Russian national costume in blue and gold and traveled with the Empress to the Winter Palace where she was introduced to the Russian public on a balcony. Catherine Radziwill described the occasion: ”rarely has a foreign princess been greeted with such enthusiasm… from the moment she set foot on Russian soil, succeeded in winning to herself all hearts.Her smile, the delightful way she had of bowing to the crowds…, laid immediately the foundation of …popularity"

Dagmar converted to Orthodoxy and became Grand Duchess <mask>vna of Russia. The lavish wedding took place on  in the Imperial Chapel of the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. Financial constraints had prevented her parents from attending the wedding, and in their stead, they sent her brother, Crown Prince Frederick. Her brother-in-law, the Prince of Wales, had also travelled to Saint Petersburg for the ceremony; pregnancy had prevented the Princess of Wales from attending. After the wedding night, Alexander wrote in his diary, "I took off my slippers and my silver embroidered robe and felt the body of my beloved next to mine... How I felt then, I do not wish to describe here. Afterwards we talked for a long time." After the many wedding parties were over the newlyweds moved into the Anichkov Palace in Saint Petersburg where they were to live for the next 15 years, when they were not taking extended holidays at their summer villa Livadia in the Crimean Peninsula.<mask> and Alexander had an exceptionally happy marriage. She was widely recognized as "the only person on the face of the earth in whom the Autocrat of all the Russias puts any real trust. In his gentle consort, he has unlimited confidence." Despite her anti-Russian sentiments, Queen Victoria wrote favorably about <mask> and Alexander's marriage. She wrote that "[<mask>] seems quite happy and contented with her fat, good-natured husband who seems far more attentive and kind to her than one would have thought....I think they are very domestic and happy and attached to each other; he makes a very good husband." Tsesarevna

<mask>vna was beloved by the Russian public. Early on, she made it a priority to learn the Russian language and to try to understand the Russian people.Baroness Rahden wrote that "the Czarevna is forming a real, warm sympathy for that country which is receiving her with so much enthusiasm." In 1876, she and her husband visited Helsinki and were greeted by cheers, most of which were "directed to the wife of the heir apparent." <mask> rarely interfered with politics, preferring to devote her time and energies to her family, charities, and the more social side of her position. She had also seen the student protests of Kiev and St. Petersburg in the 1860s, and when police were beating students, the students cheered on <mask>vna to which she replied, "They were quite loyal, they cheered me. Why do you allow the police to treat them so brutally?" Her one exception to official politics was her militant anti-German sentiment because of the annexation of Danish territories by Prussia in 1864, a sentiment also expressed by her sister, Alexandra. Prince Gorchakov remarked about that policy that 'it is our belief, that Germany will not forget that both in Russia and in England [sic] a Danish Princess has her foot on the steps of the throne".<mask>na suffered a miscarriage in 1866 in Denmark while she was horseback riding. <mask> arranged the marriage between her brother George I of Greece and her cousin-in-law Olga Constantinovna of Russia. When George visited St. Petersburg in 1867, she contrived to have George spend time with Olga. She convinced Olga's parents of her brother's suitability. In a letter, her father Christian IX of Denmark praised her for her shrewd arranging of the marriage: "Where in the world have you, little rogue, ever learned to intrigue so well, since you have worked hard on your uncle and aunt, who were previously decidedly against a match of this kind." On 18 May 1868, <mask> gave birth to her eldest son, Nicholas. Her next son, Alexander Alexandrovich, born in 1869, died from meningitis in infancy.She

masks:
Maria Feodorov
Dagmar
Maria von
Maria Fedoro
Maria Feodoro
Dagmar
Maria Alexandrovna
Maria Alexandrov
Maria Alexandrov
Maria Feodoro
Maria
Maria
Maria
Maria Feodoro
Maria
Maria Feodoro
Maria Feodorov
Maria
Maria