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It is 125 years today since Yasunari Kawabata was born.
Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer born in Osaka. He came from an educated, wealthy family, but he lost his parents at an early age and his only sibling, a sister, died when he was nine years old. These childhood traumas came to inform his writing. After growing up with his maternal grandfather in the countryside, Kawabata read English and Japanese literature at...
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It is 113 years today since Victor Canning was born.
Victor Canning was a British author of humorous adventure stories and thrillers. He was born in Plymouth, Devon. At the outbreak of the First World War, while his father was doing his military service, he went with his mother and siblings to live with his uncle in Calstock, a few miles north of Plymouth. This was where Canning fell in love with the English countryside, which features prominently...
Sample of Authors
Bernhard, Thomas
1931 - 1989
Thomas Bernhard was born near Maastricht in the Netherlands and grew up in Henndorf, Austria. He never knew his father, who...
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Gilbert, Michael
1912 - 2006
Michael Francis Gilbert was a British author of mystery stories and thrillers. He was born in Billinghay, Lincolnshire, and...
Further reading
Leroux, Gaston
1868 - 1927
Gaston Leroux was born in Paris but grew up in a little village in Normandy close to the home of his maternal grandparents....
Further reading
Smith, Patti
1946 -
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is a rock musician, poet and artist, the oldest of four siblings born in Chicago, Illinois. She...
Further reading