Emman Ritoók was born in Nagyvárad in what was then Austria-Hungary, and is now Oradea in Romania.

Ritoók studied in Budapest, Leipzig and Paris and in 1906 she obtained a doctorate in philology.

In 1897 she won a science competition prize ( A természettudományi irány a szépirodalomban The natural science trend in fiction) of the Szigligeti Társaság of Nagyvárad.

She translated from Scandinavian writers Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Knut Hamsun.

She was a member of the Budapest philosophical discussion group "Sunday Circle".