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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
Verne, Jules
1828 - 1905
French author, born in Nantes. To a large extent, his childhood appears to have been characterized by loneliness; he was...
Further reading
Silone, Ignazio
1900 - 1978
The pseudonym of Secondo Tranquilli, an Italian author and intellectual, born in Pescina dei Marsi. Silone came from a poor...
Further reading
Blædel, Sara
1964 -
The Danish journalist and author Sara Blædel spent her early life in the Copenhagen district of Østerbro. When she was a...
Further reading
Ayraud, Pierre
1908 - 1998
Pierre Ayraud, who published his books under the pseudonym Thomas Narcejac, and Pierre Boileau are two of the best known...
Further reading