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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
Sebald, W.G.
1944 - 2001
Winfried Georg (W.G.) Sebald was born near the end of the Second World War in the Bavarian mountain village of Wertach...
Further reading
Boileau, Pierre
1906 - 1989
Pierre Boileau was one half of the partnership (and the brand) Boileau-Narcejac, which can best be described as French...
Further reading
Shute, Nevil
1899 - 1960
British author born as Nevil Shute Norway in Ealing, Middlesex, and raised in Shrewsbury. He stuttered badly, which...
Further reading
Grebe, Camilla
1968 -
The Swedish writer, Camilla Grebe (born Eriksson), has written a series of crime novels, both herself and in collaboration...
Further reading