Johanne Helene Caroline Schiørring grew up in Hem parsonage near the North Sea. She chose writing as a career after she was widowed at a young age and left to bring up three children alone.
After her successful novel Havets Datter, published in 1875, she published one novel or short story collection each year until a few years before her death. She edited the weekly magazine Vort Hjem from 1886 to 1887 as well as the commemorative publication for the Women’s Exhibition in 1895. She also wrote for newspapers and weeklies.