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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
Saylor, Steven
1956 -
The American author Steven Saylor has pursued two separate literary careers. In the 1980s and early ‘90s he was one of the m...
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Shakespeare, William
1564 - 1616
English playwright and poet, born in Stratford-upon-Avon as the eldest son of the glove maker John Shakespeare and his wife...
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Marsden, John
1950 -
John Marsden was born in Melbourne, Australia, and grew up in a series of small towns in the Australian outback. His father...
Further reading
Sappho
c. 630 BCE - c. 570 BCE
Thanks to the Athenian politician and poet Solon we know that the lyrical poet Sappho from the island of Lesbos was both...
Further reading