Gisela was the youngest child of Achim and Bettina von Arnim. She was not formally educated, being taught only by her sisters. In her youth she read fairy tales and Romantic poetry, especially the works of Wilhelm Hauff, and began to write fairy tales herself. With her sisters she started the "Kaffeter circle", first a group for young women and later a full literary salon also including men (honorary members included Hans Christian Andersen and Emmanuel Geibel). In 1859, she married the Germanist and art historian Herman Grimm, a son of Wilhelm Grimm.
