Simplify the following text for a Grade 8 native English-speaking person.
Original: Mary Anne ( Mary Ann , Marian ) Evans ( 22 November 1819 â `` 22 December 1880 ) , better known by her pen name George Eliot , was an English novelist , journalist and translator , and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era .
Simplified: Mary Ann ( Marian ) Evans ( 22 November 1819 â `` 22 December 1880 ) , better known by her pen name George Eliot , was an English novelist . She was one of the leading writers of the Victorian era .