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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
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
1712 - 1778
Author and political philosopher born in Geneva, Switzerland as the son of a watchmaker. His mother died giving birth to...
Further reading
Rushdie, Salman
1947 -
Salman Rushdie is the undisputed pioneer and mentor for the Indian-English literary generation which made its breakthrough...
Further reading
Gripe, Maria
1923 - 2007
A Swedish author of children’s and youth books, Maria Gripe was born in Vaxholm and grew up in Örebro. She graduated from hi...
Further reading
Kantor, MacKinlay
1904 - 1977
The author and journalist MacKinlay Kantor was born Benjamin McKinlay Kantor in Webster City, Iowa. His father, John Martin...
Further reading