Maria de Naglowska was a Russian occultist, mystic, author, journalist, and poet who wrote and taught about sexual magical ritual practices while also being linked with the Parisian surrealist movement. She established and led an occult society known as the Confrerie de la Flèche d'Or in Paris from 1932 to 1935. Naglowska's occult teaching centered on what she called the Third Term of the Trinity, in which the Holy Spirit of the classic Christian trinity is recognized as the divine feminine. Her practices aimed to bring about a reconciliation of the light and dark forces in nature through the union of the masculine and feminine, revealing the spiritually transformative power of sex.
Maria Edgeworth was a prolific Anglo-Irish novelist of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and was a significant figure in the evolution of the novel in Europe. She held critical views on estate management, politics and education, and corresponded with some of the leading literary and economic writers, including Sir Walter Scott and David Ricardo. During the first decade of the 19th century she was one of the most widely read novelists in Britain and Ireland. Her name today most commonly associated with Castle Rackrent, her first novel in which she adopted an Irish Catholic voice to narrate the dissipation and decline of a family from her own landed Anglo-Irish class.
Maria Elise Turner Lauder was a Canadian teacher, linguist, and author who travelled extensively in Europe. She published novels and poetry, but mostly was known for writing about her travels. Lauder was also a philanthropist, involved in the temperance movement.
Maria Elizabeth Budden, was a novelist, translator and writer of didactic children's books, who frequently signed her work "M. E. B." or "A Mother". Her True Stories... series of history books for young people remained popular for many years. Little has come to light about Budden's life.
María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés is an Ecuadorian politician and diplomat. She was the President of the United Nations General Assembly for the 73rd session from 2018 to 2019. She served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Lenín Moreno from May 2017 to June 2018. She also held several other Ministerial posts before, including as Minister of National Defense of from 28 November 2012 to 23 September 2014. She served as the Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations in Geneva from 2008 to 2009 and again from October 2014 to May 2017. Besides her political career she is also a poet and essayist.
María Fernanda García is a Mexican actress best known as "Licha" in Una familia de diez. She has also appeared in many telenovelas and won a Silver Ariel for "Best Actress in a Minor Role" for the film Bienvenido — Welcome (1995) at the 37th Ariel Awards.
Maria Francesca Rossetti was an English author and nun. She was the sister of artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Michael Rossetti, and of Christina Georgina Rossetti, who dedicated her 1862 poem Goblin Market to Maria.
Nunes da Cunha Rodrigues Joaquim, more commonly known as Maria Gabriela Llansol, was a Portuguese writer and translator. Llansol took an independent view of history and the structure of writing. She did not aim to be popular, but believed that her writing would live longer than she did. She won the Portuguese Writers Association prize for two of her novels.
