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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
Laxness, Halldór
1902 - 1998
Icelandic author born in Reykjavik as Halldór Guðjónsson. When he was three years old his parents, Guðjón Helgason and Sigr...
Further reading
Dreiser, Theodore
1871 - 1945
The American author Theodore Dreiser was born as Herman Theodore Dreiser in Terre Haute, Indiana. He was the ninth of ten...
Further reading
Keats, John
1795 - 1821
The English poet John Keats was born in London. His father, who was stable manager at the Swan and Hoop Inn, died in an...
Further reading
Powell, Richard
1908 - 1999
Richard Powell was an author, journalist and advertising man born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he lived most of his...
Further reading