Marie Luise Auguste Petersen (31 July 1816 – 30 June 1859) was a German author famous for her fairy tale Princess Ilse.
Shortly after her birth, Petersen developed a chronically deformed spinal curvature, and orthopedic institutions in Berlin were unable to correct the condition.
Upon the death of Petersen's mother in 1834, her father sold his pharmacy in order to devote himself to the care and upbringing of his children.
A travel letter she had sent to a relative under the title Prinzessin Ilse was published anonymously in 1852 as A Fairy Tale from the Harz Mountains.
The story was widely successful, but Petersen's identity as the author only appeared in the twelfth edition, this time published with an additional tale.