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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
Mickiewicz, Adam
1798 - 1855
The Polish author Adam Mickiewicz grew up in the village of Zaosie near Novogrudok, then the Lithuanian part of the former...
Further reading
Tabucchi, Antonio
1943 - 2012
The Italian author, scholar, translator and journalist Antonio Tabucchi was born in Pisa where he also studied at...
Further reading
O'Brien, Flann
1911 - 1966
Flann O'Brien was born as Brian O Nuallain (Brian O'Nolan) in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Brian was the third of...
Further reading
Manning, Olivia
1908 - 1980
The British novelist and short story writer Olivia Mary Manning was born in Portsmouth in 1908 (although some sources say...
Further reading