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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
Norman, Diana
1933 - 2011
The British author and journalist Diana Norman has become known for her historical novels, some of which were published...
Further reading
Aretino, Pietro
1492 - 1556
Italian author born in Arezzo, Tuscany to a poor cobbler. He had little or no schooling, but he was clever and astute, and...
Further reading
Allbeury, Ted
1917 - 2005
The British author of espionage fiction Theodore Edward le Bouthillier Allbeury was born in Stockport, Cheshire. His father...
Further reading
Tokarczuk, Olga
1962 -
Polish author, born in the little village Klenica in western Poland, where her parents were teachers at a residential...
Further reading