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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
Hellström, Börge
1957 - 2017
Börge Hellström was a former criminal turned author. After a tough childhood he became an alcoholic and a drug addict, and e...
Further reading
Schlink, Bernhard
1944 -
The German lawyer and author Bernhard Schlink was born in Grossdornberg (now part of the city of Bielefeld) and grew up in...
Further reading
Ambler, Eric
1909 - 1998
Eric Clifford Ambler was a British author and playwright born in London. His parents were music hall artists, and at the...
Further reading
Dunsany, Edward Plunkett
1878 - 1957
The Irish author Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany, was a major celebrity in the first half of the...
Further reading