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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
Owens, Delia
1949 -
The American zoologist Delia Owens didn’t make her debut as a literary author until she was almost seventy years old. B...
Further reading
Bagley, Desmond
1923 - 1983
British author of thrillers born in Kendal, Cumbria (formerly Westmorland), in northwest England, an area known as the Lake...
Further reading
Murdoch, Iris
1919 - 1999
The British author and philosopher Jean Iris Murdoch was of both English and Irish stock. She was born in Dublin to...
Further reading
Barnes, Julian
1946 -
The English author Julian Barnes was born in Leicester, but grew up in West London with his brother Jonathan. Their...
Further reading