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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
Singer, Isaac Bashevis
1904 - 1991
Isaac Bashevis Singer, born Izak Hersz Zynger, was the last of the great 20th century authors in Yiddish. He was born in...
Further reading
Szymborska, Wislawa
1923 - 2012
The poet, essayist and translator Maria Wislawa Anna Szymborska was born in Prowent, near Bnin, now part of Kórnik, Poland. ...
Further reading
Tournier, Michel
1924 - 2016
Michel Edouard Tournier was born in Paris. His parents met at the Sorbonne, where they both studied German. For this...
Further reading
Aymé, Marcel
1902 - 1967
French author born in the town of Joigny, Burgundy, as the youngest of six children. His father was a cavalry farrier. His...
Further reading