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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
O'Brien, Flann
1911 - 1966
Flann O'Brien was born as Brian O Nuallain (Brian O'Nolan) in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Brian was the third of...
Further reading
Rimington, Stella
1935 -
Dame Stella Rimington is a British author of spy novels. She is a former intelligence officer, she was the first female...
Further reading
Thomson, June
1930 -
The shy and reserved teacher and author June Valerie Thomson is reluctant to give up information about her life, it is not...
Further reading
Le Queux, William
1864 - 1927
One of the most remarkable, and most productive, British authors in the early 20th century was William Le Queux who wrote...
Further reading