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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
Hustvedt, Siri
1955 -
Norwegian-American poet and author. Hustvedt’s parents were both of Norwegian descent but later settled in the USA. Her f...
Further reading
Theorin, Johan
1963 -
Johan Theorin is a Swedish author and journalist. He was born in Gothenburg and grew up in Nora, where he moved with his...
Further reading
Beckett, Samuel
1906 - 1989
The Irishman Samuel Beckett is one of the most influential authors of the 20th century and a prominent figure within...
Further reading
Hodgson, William Hope
1877 - 1918
William Hope Hodgson was the son of an Anglican priest who grew up in England and Ireland alongside his eleven sisters and...
Further reading