-
It is 152 years today since Bertrand Russell was born.
The British philosopher and author Bertrand Arthur William Russel was born in Trelleck, Monmouthshire, Wales, to an aristocratic family that included the former Prime Minister Lord John Russell. His parents were liberal and advocated, among other things, the emancipation of women. Although his godfather was John Stuart Mill, the boy was brought up by his Presbyterian grandmother after he was...
-
It is 80 years today since W.G. Sebald was born.
Winfried Georg (W.G.) Sebald was born near the end of the Second World War in the Bavarian mountain village of Wertach where his mother had moved to get away from the bombing of the town of Bamberg. His parents, Rosa and Georg, had three children. His father, an officer of the Wehrmacht who had participated in the invasion of Poland, was a prisoner of war until 1947, but mentioning the war was...
Sample of Authors
Perec, Georges
1936 - 1982
George Perec's Jewish parents emigrated from Poland to France in the 1920s. His father served in the war and was killed in...
Further reading
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
1749 - 1832
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt am Main. His father, Johann Kaspar Goethe, who had left public service...
Further reading
Adonis
1930 -
Adonis, or Adunis, is the alias of the Syrian-Lebanese poet Ali Ahmad Said. Said was born in a poor farming community in...
Further reading
Smirnoff, Karin
1964 -
Karin Smirnoff has the same name as August Strindberg’s daughter, dramatist and author Karin Smirnoff (1880-1973) who also w...
Further reading