The German novelist and short story writer Thomas Mann was born in Lübeck. His father, who was a senator and wealthy merchant, died in 1891, leaving an inheritance which secured the future of the family. The family moved to Munich, where Thomas Mann would live for thirty years until 1933. After a short period at an insurance company, he studied in 1895-96 both at the university and at a ...

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The Russian author Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was born in Moscow to one of the oldest noble families in Russia with roots in the 12th century. They had lost their wealth by the time Pushkin was born, but on the other hand there was plenty of cultural capital. His father was well read and the owner of an extensive French library, which the son became acquainted with from an early age. This was...

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His full name was Rodney David Wingfield, an English author and dramatist, born in Hackney in London. He was educated at Cooper’s Company School in London, but spent a long time in Somerset, as the school’s pupils were evacuated to Frome during the Second World War. He was exempted from National Service primarily on account of his poor eyesight. Instead, after the war he had various jobs, mainly a...

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Frenchman who has written a number of thrillers which have been translated into many languages, and who is said to be the French-language author who has sold the most books during the 2000s. He was born in a family that was interested in literature: his mother was a librarian, and his brother Valentin Musso (born 1977) has written several crime novels. When he was only ten years old, Guillaume...

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