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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
Niemi, Mikael
1959 -
Swedish author, born and raised in Pajala in Tornedalen, near the Finnish border. His grandmother was Saami and his father...
Further reading
Jansson, Anna
1958 -
The Swedish crime writer Anna Jansson was born in Visby on the island of Gotland. In 1979, she moved to Örebro where she ...
Further reading
Franzen, Jonathan
1959 -
The American author and essayist Jonathan Franzen was born in Western Springs, Illinois, but grew up in Webster Groves, a...
Further reading
Ashbery, John
1927 - 2017
The poet, art critic, translator and essayist John Lawrence Ashbery was born in Rochester, New York, and grew up on a farm...
Further reading