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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...
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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...
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Hannah, Sophie
1971 -
The British poet and novelist Sophie Hannah was born and raised in Manchester. She grew up with her younger sister in a...
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Toer, Pramoedya Ananta
1925 - 2006
Pramoedya Ananta Toer is Indonesia's best-known author outside Indonesia. He has been nominated for the Nobel Prize and he...
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Tolkien, J.R.R.
1892 - 1973
The English author, poet and philologist John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, then in the Orange Free State...
Further reading
Canetti, Elias
1905 - 1994
The prose writer and playwright Elias Canetti was born in the city of Rustchuk (or Ruse) in Bulgaria. His father, who was a...
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