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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
Himes, Chester
1909 - 1984
Chester Bomar Himes was among the foremost Afro-American authors, especially in terms of the way he wrote about racism in...
Further reading
Williams, Charles
1909 - 1975
Charles Williams was a ground-breaking author of noir crime fiction. More than two thirds of his books came out as pulp...
Further reading
Ball, Hugo
1886 - 1927
Hugo Ball was born in Pirmasens, Germany, to Catholic parents who were as poor as they were pious. He wanted to study, but...
Further reading
Boccaccio, Giovanni
1313 - 1375
Italian Renaissance author. His place of birth is uncertain; he was either born in Paris or Florence as the illegitimate...
Further reading