-
It is 125 years today since Yasunari Kawabata was born.
Yasunari Kawabata was a Japanese novelist and short story writer born in Osaka. He came from an educated, wealthy family, but he lost his parents at an early age and his only sibling, a sister, died when he was nine years old. These childhood traumas came to inform his writing. After growing up with his maternal grandfather in the countryside, Kawabata read English and Japanese literature at...
-
It is 113 years today since Victor Canning was born.
Victor Canning was a British author of humorous adventure stories and thrillers. He was born in Plymouth, Devon. At the outbreak of the First World War, while his father was doing his military service, he went with his mother and siblings to live with his uncle in Calstock, a few miles north of Plymouth. This was where Canning fell in love with the English countryside, which features prominently...
Sample of Authors
Hamilton, Donald
1916 - 2006
Swedish-American author, born in Uppsala as Donald Bengtsson Hamilton. When he was a child, his father, who was a doctor,...
Further reading
Staalesen, Gunnar
1947 -
Norwegian author and playwright born in Bergen, where he still lives. Staalesen attended the Katedralskolan upper-secondary...
Further reading
Walcott, Derek
1930 - 2017
Derek Walcott was born in Castries on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia. His father was a civil servant who painted and...
Further reading
Le Carré, John
1931 - 2020
Born David John Moore Cornwell in Poole, county of Dorset, England, John le Carré grew up in a troubled home. While his ...
Further reading