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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
Vidocq, Eugène François
1775 - 1857
Few people have had a life and a professional career to match that of the criminal, police officer, criminologist and...
Further reading
Thomas, Ross
1926 - 1995
Ross Thomas was an American author of crime fiction, journalist and PR councillor. His political thrillers have received...
Further reading
Tucholsky, Kurt
1890 - 1935
The German author Kurt Tucholsky was born in the Moabit district of Berlin to a wealthy Jewish banking family. Despite...
Further reading
Coetzee, J.M.
1940 -
J.M. (John Maxwell) Coetzee was born in Cape Town, South Africa. Although he is of Boer descent, the family spoke English...
Further reading