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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
Household, Geoffrey
1900 - 1988
Geoffrey Edward West Household grew up in Bristol where he attended Clifton College in 1914–19. He went on to study English a...
Further reading
Dumas, Alexandre, père
1802 - 1870
French author born as Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, but known as Alexandre Dumas, père. His ancestry can be traced back to ...
Further reading
Elytis, Odysseus
1911 - 1996
Odysseus Elytis was born Odysseus Alepoudhellis at Heraklion on the island of Crete. He was the youngest of six children....
Further reading
Walpole, Horace
1717 - 1797
The British author Horace Walpole was the youngest of the first Prime Minister’s, Sir Robert Walpole, three sons. Walpole’s p...
Further reading