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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
Stark, Ulf
1944 - 2017
Ulf Gottfrid Stark grew up in Stureby, Stockholm. He often based his settings and characters on his own childhood in the...
Further reading
French, Nicci
1958 -
Nicci French is the pseudonym of the husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerrard (born 1958) and Sean French (born 1959). They are...
Further reading
Shepard, Jim
1956 -
Jim Shepard was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He graduated from Trinity College, Hartford, with a Bachelor of Arts...
Further reading
Cortázar, Julio
1914 - 1984
Argentinian author, born in Brussels to Argentinian parents. His father was a diplomat. After the First World War the...
Further reading