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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
Oksanen, Sofi
1977 -
The Finnish author and playwright Sofi Oksanen had a major impact on the literary scene in the first decade of the 21st...
Further reading
Eliot, George
1819 - 1880
A pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans, a British author, born in Warwickshire. Her father was a steward at a large estate,...
Further reading
Sittenfeld, Curtis
1975 -
Curtis Sittenfeld was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, as the second oldest of four siblings. Her mother taught history of...
Further reading
Carver, Raymond
1938 - 1988
American author who was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, and grew up in Yakima, Washington. His father was a sawmill worker with...
Further reading