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It is 184 years today since Thomas Hardy was born.
The English author Thomas Hardy was born in Stinsford near Dorchester in Dorset, the son of a stonemason and local builder. Hardy trained as an architect before moving to London when he was twenty-two years old. He returned to Dorset where he began to write his first novel. Hardy was interested in the writings of Charles Darwin and in naturalism. During his long life he became famous for his...
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It is 111 years today since Barbara Pym was born.
Barbara Mary Crampton Pym was born in Oswestry, Shropshire, near the Welsh border where she grew up with her younger sister Hilary. Her father was a lawyer and her mother the organist in the local church. Many of the vicars and lay clergy that visited their home later turned up in Pym's books. She was privately educated, first at a girl's school and later at boarding school. After reading...
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It is 75 years today since Ingrid Hedström was born.
TThe Swedish journalist and author Ingrid Hedström were born in Söderhamn in the central Swedish province of Hälsingland, and then moved to Avesta in nearby Dalarna when she was five years old. She is said to be one of the 1960’s so-called "welfare-state princesses", meaning that she was the first in her family to graduate from high school. She completed her final exam at Avesta Grammar School in...
Sample of Authors
Vieira, José Luandino
1935 -
José Luandino Vieira Mateus de Graça, which is his complete name, was born in Lagoa do Furadouro in Portugal. As a small b...
Further reading
Marsé, Juan
1933 - 2020
Juan Marsé Carbó, born Juan Faneca Roca, was a Spanish novelist, journalist and screenwriter from Barcelona. His biological p...
Further reading
Kent, Hannah
1985 -
The Australian author Hannah Kent looks back on an idyllic childhood in Adelaide Hills. Together with her little sister,...
Further reading
Leon, Donna
1942 -
The American crime writer Donna Leon was born in Montclaire, New Jersey. At the age of twenty-three, she published her...
Further reading