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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
Vidal, Gore
1925 - 2012
The American novelist and essayist Gore Vidal was born at West Point, New York. He was originally christened Eugene Vidal,...
Further reading
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
Steinbeck, John
1902 - 1968
American author and Nobel Prize winner born in Salinas in California. His mother was a teacher and his father worked in the...
Further reading
Paasilinna, Arto
1942 - 2018
Arto Paasilinna was born in Kittilä in the Finnish part of Lapland. His father died from pulmonary tuberculosis at the age ...
Further reading