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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...
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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
Swift, Jonathan
1667 - 1745
The Anglo-Irish author and satirist Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin, Ireland. His cousin was the English poet and...
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Du Maurier, Daphne
1907 - 1989
The British novelist and playwright Daphne du Maurier was born in London to parents who were both prominent actors; her...
Further reading
Upfield, Arthur W.
1890 - 1964
Arthur W. Upfield is one of a small number of internationally famous Australian crime writers thanks to his novels about...
Further reading
Diderot, Denis
1713 - 1784
French author and philosopher born in the city of Langres in north-east France. He was the son of a wealthy knife maker and...
Further reading