Sei Shōnagon , or Seijo , was a Japanese author, poet, and court lady who served the Empress Teishi (Sadako) around the year 1000, during the middle Heian period. She is the author of The Pillow Book . 966 – 1025; died at about 59. Alive at the same time as Avicenna, Leif Erikson, Sylvester II, Vladimir the Great, and Murasaki Shikibu. Wiki link