-
It is 152 years today since Bertrand Russell was born.
The British philosopher and author Bertrand Arthur William Russel was born in Trelleck, Monmouthshire, Wales, to an aristocratic family that included the former Prime Minister Lord John Russell. His parents were liberal and advocated, among other things, the emancipation of women. Although his godfather was John Stuart Mill, the boy was brought up by his Presbyterian grandmother after he was...
-
It is 80 years today since W.G. Sebald was born.
Winfried Georg (W.G.) Sebald was born near the end of the Second World War in the Bavarian mountain village of Wertach where his mother had moved to get away from the bombing of the town of Bamberg. His parents, Rosa and Georg, had three children. His father, an officer of the Wehrmacht who had participated in the invasion of Poland, was a prisoner of war until 1947, but mentioning the war was...
Sample of Authors
Blok, Aleksandr
1880 - 1921
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Blok is one of the great masters of Russian symbolism. He combined the early Russian literary...
Further reading
Brodsky, Joseph
1940 - 1996
The Russian poet and essayist Joseph Brodsky was born to a Jewish family in Leningrad as Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky. His...
Further reading
Mahfouz, Naguib
1911 - 2006
Naguib Mahfouz was born in Cairo as the youngest child of five boys and two girls. His family was of Muslim middle-class...
Further reading
Richardson, Samuel
1689 - 1761
Samuel Richardson was born in Derbyshire as the son of a carpenter. The family could not afford to send him to school, so...
Further reading