0M0001_Novel Writers
Novels I have read in german or German translation
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Writer, born in Bromley, Kent. He was apprenticed to a draper, tried teaching, studied biology in London, then made his mark in journalism and literature. He played a vital part in disseminating the progressive ideas which characterized the first part of the 20th-c. He achieved fame with scientific fantasies such as The Time Machine (1895) and War of the Worlds (1898), and wrote a range of comic social novels which proved highly popular, notably Kipps (1905) and The History of Mr Polly (1910). Both kinds of novel made successful (sometimes classic) early films. A member of the Fabian Society, he was often engaged in public controversy, and wrote several socio-political works dealing with the role of science and the need for world peace, such as The Outline of History (1920) and The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind14 -> (1895) The Time Machine (1895) The Wonderful Visit (1896) The Island of Dr. Moreau (1897) The Invisible Man (1898) The War of the Worlds (1899) When the Sleeper Wakes (1901) The First Men in the Moon (1904) The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth (1910) The History of Mr. Polly (1914) The World Set Free (1919) The Undying Fire (1923) Men Like Gods (1933) Things to Come (1937) Star Begotten- Writer
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Stephen Edwin King was born on September 21, 1947, at the Maine General Hospital in Portland. His parents were Nellie Ruth (Pillsbury), who worked as a caregiver at a mental institute, and Donald Edwin King, a merchant seaman. His father was born under the surname "Pollock," but used the last name "King," under which Stephen was born. He has an older brother, David. The Kings were a typical family until one night, when Donald said he was stepping out for cigarettes and was never heard from again. Ruth took over raising the family with help from relatives. They traveled throughout many states over several years, finally moving back to Durham, Maine, in 1958.
Stephen began his actual writing career in January of 1959, when David and Stephen decided to publish their own local newspaper named "Dave's Rag". David bought a mimeograph machine, and they put together a paper they sold for five cents an issue. Stephen attended Lisbon High School, in Lisbon, in 1962. Collaborating with his best friend Chris Chesley in 1963, they published a collection of 18 short stories called "People, Places, and Things--Volume I". King's stories included "Hotel at the End of the Road", "I've Got to Get Away!", "The Dimension Warp", "The Thing at the Bottom of the Well", "The Stranger", "I'm Falling", "The Cursed Expedition", and "The Other Side of the Fog." A year later, King's amateur press, Triad and Gaslight Books, published a two-part book titled "The Star Invaders".
King made his first actual published appearance in 1965 in the magazine Comics Review with his story "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber." The story ran about 6,000 words in length. In 1966 he graduated from high school and took a scholarship to attend the University of Maine. Looking back on his high school days, King recalled that "my high school career was totally undistinguished. I was not at the top of my class, nor at the bottom." Later that summer King began working on a novel called "Getting It On", about some kids who take over a classroom and try unsuccessfully to ward off the National Guard. During his first year at college, King completed his first full-length novel, "The Long Walk." He submitted the novel to Bennett Cerf/Random House only to have it rejected. King took the rejection badly and filed the book away.
He made his first small sale--$35--with the story "The Glass Floor". In June 1970 King graduated from the University of Maine with a Bachelor of Science degree in English and a certificate to teach high school. King's next idea came from the poem by Robert Browning, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came." He found bright colored green paper in the library and began work on "The Dark Tower" saga, but his chronic shortage of money meant that he was unable to further pursue the novel, and it, too, was filed away. King took a job at a filling station pumping gas for the princely sum of $1.25 an hour. Soon he began to earn money for his writings by submitting his short stories to men's magazines such as Cavalier.
On January 2, 1971, he married Tabitha King (born Tabitha Jane Spruce). In the fall of 1971 King took a teaching job at Hampden Academy, earning $6,400 a year. The Kings then moved to Hermon, a town west of Bangor. Stephen then began work on a short story about a teenage girl named Carietta White. After completing a few pages, he decided it was not a worthy story and crumpled the pages up and tossed them into the trash. Fortunately, Tabitha took the pages out and read them. She encouraged her husband to continue the story, which he did. In January 1973 he submitted "Carrie" to Doubleday. In March Doubleday bought the book. On May 12 the publisher sold the paperback rights for the novel to New American Library for $400,000. His contract called for his getting half of that sum, and he quit his teaching job to pursue writing full time. The rest, as they say, is history.
Since then King has had numerous short stories and novels published and movies made from his work. He has been called the "Master of Horror". His books have been translated into 33 different languages, published in over 35 different countries. There are over 300 million copies of his novels in publication. He continues to live in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, and writes out of his home.
In June 1999 King was severely injured in an accident, he was walking alongside a highway and was hit by a van, that left him in critical condition with injuries to his lung, broken ribs, a broken leg and a severely fractured hip. After three weeks of operations, he was released from the Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.13 -> (1977) Rage (1979) The Long Walk (1982) The Gunslinger (1983) Cycle of the Werewolf (1983) Pet Sematary (1987) The Eyes of the Dragon (1991) Needful Things (1994) Insomnia (1996) Desperation (1996) The Green Mile (1999) The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (2005) The Colorado Kid (2011) 11/22/63- Writer
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A graduate of Mississippi State University and Ole Miss Law School, John Grisham obtained his law degree in 1981 and practiced law for about 10 years, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. He was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1983 and served until 1990. He gave up his law practice to write full-time. He began writing in 1984, and three years later finished his first novel, "A Time To Kill", published by Wynwood Press in June 1988. He is the best-selling author of "A Time to Kill", "The Firm", "The Pelican Brief" and "The Client". He lives with his wife and their two children on a farm in Oxford, Mississippi.26 -> (1989) A Time to Kill (1991) The Firm (1992) The Pelican Brief (1993) The Client (1994) The Chamber (1995) The Rainmaker (1996) The Runaway Jury (1997) The Partner (1998) The Street Lawyer (1999) The Testament (2000) The Brethren (2001) A Painted House (2002) Skipping Christmas (2002) The Summons (2003) The King of Torts (2004) Bleachers (2004) The Last Juror (2005) The Broker (2006) The Innocent Man (2007) Playing for Pizza (2008) The Appeal (2009) The Associate (2010) The Confession (2011) The Litigators (2012) Calico Joe (2012) The Racketeer- Writer
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Harold Robbins summed up his career best in a 1971 ITV documentary: "I'm the world's best writer--there's nothing more to say". This phenomenally successful author--over 750,000,000 copies of his books were sold worldwide, and most were adapted successfully for the screen. At fifteen, he left home to begin a series of low-paying jobs, including working as a numbers runner. At twenty, after buying options on farmers' produce, Robbins was a millionaire, but a move into sugar futures wiped him out. He next took a job as a shipping clerk with Universal Pictures warehouse in New York and was soon promoted to executive director for budget and planning. On a bet with a studio executive, Robbins wrote his personal favorite novel, Never Love a Stranger (Knopf, 1948), and other early works which achieved minor critical success. He soon devolved into a writer of more popular novels involving celebrity, sex, and violence, to the scorn of critics. His writings after 1960 reflected his personal life: six marriages, wild Hollywood parties, drug abuse. A stroke in 1982 left him with aphasia, although he continued to write, publishing his last novel, Tycoon, in 1997.22 -> (1948) Never Love a Stranger (1949) The Dream Merchants (1953) Never Leave Me (1955) 79 Park Avenue (1960) Stiletto (1961) The Carpetbaggers (1962) Where Love Has Gone (1966) The Adventurers (1969) The Inheritors (1971) The Betsy (1974) The Pirate (1976) The Lonely Lady (1978) Dreams Die First (1979) Memories of Another Day (1981) Goodbye Janette (1982) Spellbinder (1984) Descent from Xanadu (1985) The Storyteller (1991) The Piranhas (1995) The Raiders (1996) The Stallion (1997) Tycoon- Writer
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Born 1929 in Germany as son of a surrealist painter who was banned by the Nazis in 1936. Went to Waldorf-school and deserted when he was called to the army at age of 16 in 1945. After the war he became an actor, critic and finally writer. His first big success was the children's book "Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivfuehrer" (Jim Knopf and Lukas the Engine-driver). Although he got much praise and many awards he remained modest, almost shy, preferring his fantasy world but still keeping an eye on the real world in his stories.6 -> (1960) Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer (1962) Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13 (1973) Momo (1979) Die unendliche Geschichte (1984) Der Spiegel im Spiegel (1989) Der satanarchäolügenialkohöllische Wunschpunsch- Writer
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Sheldon was born in Chicago on February 17, 1917. He began writing as a youngster and at the age of ten he made his first sale of a poem for $10. During the Depression, he worked at a variety of jobs and while attending Northwestern University he contributed short plays to drama groups.
At seventeen, he decided to try his luck in Hollywood. The only job he could find was as a reader of prospective film material at Universal Pictures for $22 a week. At night he wrote his own screenplays and was able to sell one called "South of Panama," to the studio for $250 in 1941.
During World War II, he served as a pilot in the Army Air Corps. After the war he established a reputation as being a prolific writer in the New York theater community. At one point during this career he had three musicals on Broadway including a rewritten version of "The Merry Widow," "Jackpot" and "Dream with Music." Eventually he received a Tony award as part of the writing team for the Gwen Verdon hit "Redhead" which brought to the attention of Hollywood.
His first assignment after his return to Hollywood was The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947) starring Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple, which won him an Academy Award for best original screenplay of 1947.
In his 1982 interview he described his years under contract with MGM as, "I never stopped working. One day Dore Schary (who was then production head) looked at a list of MGM projects then under production and noted that I had written eight of them, more than three other writers put together. That afternoon, he made me a producer."
In the early 1960s when the movie industry was hurting because of television's popularity, Sheldon decided to make a switch. "I suppose I needed money," he remembered. "I met Patty Duke one day at lunch and stated producing "The Patty Duke Show," (that starred Duke playing two identical cousins). I did something nobody else in TV ever did at that time. For seven years, I wrote almost every single episode of the series."
His next series was "I Dream of Jeannie," which he also created as well as produced, lasted five seasons, 1965-1970. The show concerned an astronaut, Larry Hagman, who lands on a desert island and discovers a bottle containing a beautiful, 2,000-year-old genie, played by Barbara Eden, who accompanies him back to Florida and eventually marries her.
According to Sheldon it was "During the last year of "I Dream of Jeannie," I decided to try a novel. Each morning from 9 until noon, I had a secretary at the studio take all calls. I mean every single call. I wrote each morning or rather, dictated and then I faced the TV business." The result was "The Naked Face," which was scorned by book reviewers but sold 21,000 copies in hardcover. The novel scored even bigger in paperback, where it reportedly sold 3.1 million copies. Thereafter Sheldon name would continually be on the best-seller lists, often reigning on top for months at a time.
Sheldon's books including titles like "Rage of Angels," "The Other Side of Midnight," "Master of the Game" and "If Tomorrow Comes," provided him with his greatest fame. They featured cleverly plots with sensuality and a high degree of suspense, a device that kept fans from being able to putting his books down.
In a 1982 interview Sheldon told of how he created his novels; "I try to write my books so the reader can't put them down. I try to construct them so when the reader gets to the end of a chapter, he or she has to read just one more chapter. It's the technique of the old Saturday afternoon serial: leave the guy hanging on the edge of the cliff at the end of the chapter."
Explaining why so many women bought his books, he once commented that: "I like to write about women, who are talented and capable, but most important, retain their femininity. Women have tremendous power, their femininity, because men can't do without it."
Sheldon had few fans among highbrow critics, whose reviews of his books were generally reproachful of both Sheldon and his readers. Sheldon however remained undeterred, promoting the novels and himself with warm enthusiasm.
A big, cheerful man, he bragged about his work habits. Unlike other novelists who toil over typewriters or computers, Sheldon would dictate fifty pages a day to a secretary or a tape machine. He would correct the pages the following day and dictate another fifty pages continuing the routine until he had between 1,200 to 1,500 pages. "Then I would do a complete rewrite 12 to 15 times," he said. "Sometimes I would spend a whole year rewriting."
Sheldon prided himself on the authenticity of his novels. During a 1987 interview he remarked that: "If I write about a place, I have been there. If I write about a meal in Indonesia, I have eaten there in that restaurant. I don't think you can fool the reader."
For his novel "Windmills of the Gods," that dealt with the CIA, he interviewed former CIA chief Richard Helms, traveled to Argentina and Romania, and spent a week in Junction City, Kansas where the book's heroine had lived.
After a career that had earned him a Tony, an Oscar and an Emmy (for "I Dream of Jeannie"), Sheldon declared that his work as a novelist was his best work. "I love writing books," he once commented. "Movies are a collaborative medium, and everyone is second-guessing you. When you do a novel you're on your own. It's a freedom that doesn't exist in any other medium."
Several of his novels became television miniseries, often with the Sheldon serving as producer.
He was married for more than 30 years to Jorja Curtright Sheldon, a stage and film actress who later became a prominent interior decorator. After her death in 1985 he married Alexandra Sheldon, a former child actress and advertising executive, in 1989.
Sheldon died January 30, 2007 of complications from pneumonia at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California according with his wife, Alexandra, was by his side.
Along with his wife, Sheldon was survived by his daughter, author Mary Sheldon; his brother Richard and two grandchildren.24 -> (1970) The Naked Face (1973) The Other Side of Midnight (1976) A Stranger in the Mirror (1978) Bloodline (1980) Rage of Angels (1982) Master of the Game (1983) The Chase (1985) If Tomorrow Comes (1987) Windmills of the Gods (1988) The Sands of Time (1990) Memories of Midnight (1991) The Doomsday Conspiracy (1992) The Stars Shine Down (1994) Nothing Lasts Forever (1995) Morning, Noon and Night (1997) The Best Laid Plans (1997) Ghost Story (1997) The Dictator (1997) The Money Tree (1997) The Strangler (1997) The Twelve Commandments (1998) Tell Me Your Dreams (2000) The Sky Is Falling (2004) Are You Afraid of the Dark?- Writer
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Jules Gabriel Verne (1828-1905) was one of the most famous French novelists of all time. His major work is the "Extraordinary Journeys", a series of more than sixty adventure novels including "Journey to the Center of the Earth", "Around the World in 80 Days", "20.000 Leagues under the Seas" and "The Mysterious Island" which had multiple cinematographic adaptations. Nicknamed "The father of science fiction", he is the second most translated author in the world after Agatha Christie.3 -> (1864) Journey to the Center of the Earth (1872) Around the World in Eighty Days (1892) Carpathian Castle- Writer
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John Steinbeck was the third of four children and the only son born to John Ernst and Olive Hamilton Steinbeck. His father was County Treasurer and his mother, a former schoolteacher. John graduated from Salinas High School in 1919 and attended classes at Stanford University, leaving in 1925 without a degree. He was variously employed as a sales clerk, farm laborer, ranch hand and factory worker. In 1925, he traveled by freight from Los Angeles to New York, where he was a construction worker. From 1926-1928, he was a caretaker in Lake Tahoe, CA. His first novel, "Cup of Gold," was published in 1929. During the 1930s, he produced most of his famous novels ("To a God Unknown," "Tortilla Flat," "In Dubious Battle," "Of Mice and Men," and his Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Grapes of Wrath"). In 1941, he moved with the singer who would become his second wife to New York City. They had two sons, Thom (b. 1944) and John IV (b. 1946). In 1948, his close friend Ed Ricketts died, he went through a divorce, he took a a tour of Russia, and he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His wrote the screenplay for Viva Zapata! (1952), and 17 of his works have been made into movies. He received three Academy Award nominations. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. US President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded him the United States Medal of Freedom in 1964, and he was commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp on what would have been his 75th birthday. His ashes lie in Garden of Memories Cemetery in Salinas.5 -> (1937) Of Mice and Men (1939) The Grapes of Wrath (1945) Cannery Row (1952) East of Eden (1954) Sweet Thursday- Writer
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Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer from Edinburgh. His most popular works include the pirate-themed adventure novel "Treasure Island" (1883), the poetry collection "A Child's Garden of Verses" (1885), the Gothic horror novella "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" (1886) which depicted a man with two distinct personalities, and the historical novels "Kidnapped" (1886) and "The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses" (1888). Stevenson spend the last years of his life in Samoa, where he tried to act as an advocate for the political rights of Polynesians.
In 1850, Stevenson was born in Edinburgh. His father was Thomas Stevenson (1818-1887), a civil engineer, lighthouse designer, and meteorologist. Thomas was a co-founder of the Scottish Meteorological Society, and one of the sons of the famed engineer Robert Stevenson (1772-1850). Thomas' brothers were the engineers David Stevenson and Alan Stevenson. Stevenson's mother (and Thomas' wife) was Margaret Isabella Balfour, a member of a centuries-old gentry family. Stevenson's maternal grandfather was Lewis Balfour (1777-1860), a minister of the Church of Scotland. Lewis was himself a grandson of the philosopher James Balfour (1705-1795).
Both Stevenson's mother and his maternal grandfather had chronic problems with coughs and fevers. Stevenson demonstrated the same problems throughout his childhood. His contemporaries suspected that he was suffering from tuberculosis. Modern biographers have suggested that he was instead suffering from bronchiectasis (a congenital disorder of the respiratory system) or sarcoidosis (an autoimmune disease which affects the lungs).
Stevenson's parents were Presbyterians, but they were not particularly interested in indoctrinating their son. Stevenson's nurse was Alison "Cummy" Cunningham, a fervently religious woman. While tending to Stevenson during his recurring illnesses, she read to him passages from the Bible and from the works of the Puritan preacher John Bunyan (1628-1688). She also narrated to him tales of the Covenanters, a 17th-century religious movement.
Stevenson's poor health as a child kept him away from school for extended periods. His parents had to hire private tutors for him. He did not learn to read until he was 7 or 8-years-old. However, he developed an interest in narrating stories in early childhood. When he learned to write, he started writing tales as a hobby. His father Thomas was happy about this hobby, as he was also an amateur writer in his early life. In 1866, Stevenson completed his first book. It was "The Pentland Rising: A Page of History, 1666", a historical narrative of a Covenanter revolt. It was published at his father's expense.
In November 1867, Stevenson entered the University of Edinburgh to study engineering. He showed little interest in the subject matter. He joined both the debating club Speculative Society, and an amateur drama group organized by professor Fleeming Jenkin (1833-1885). During the annual holidays, Stevenson repeatedly joined his father in travels to inspect the family's engineering works. He displayed little interest in engineering, but the travels turned his interests towards travel writing.
In April 1871, Stevenson announced to his father that he wanted to become a professional writer. His father agreed, on the condition that Stevenson should also study to gain a law degree. In the early 1870s, Stevenson started dressing in a Bohemian manner, wore his hair long, and joined an atheist club. In January 1873, Stevenson explained to his father that he no longer believed in God, and that he had grown tired of pretending to be pious. He would eventually rejoin Christianity, but remained hostile to organized religion until his death.
In late 1873, Stevenson visited London. He had an essay published in the local art magazine "The Portfolio" (1870-1893), and started socializing with the city's professional writers. Among his new friends was the poet William Ernest Henley (1849-1903). Henley had a wooden leg, due to a childhood illness which led to amputation. Stevenson later used Henley as his inspiration for the one-legged pirate Long John Silver.
Stevenson qualified for the Scottish bar in July 1875, at the age of 24. He never practiced law, though his legal studies inspired aspect of his works. In September 1876, Stevenson was introduced to the American short-story writer Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne (1840-1914). She had separated from her unfaithful husband, and lived with her daughter in France. Fanny remained in his thoughts for months, and they became lovers in 1877. They parted ways in August 1878, when she decided to move back to San Francisco.
In August 1879, Stevenson decided to travel to the United States in search of Fanny. He arrived to New York City with little incident. The journey from New York City to California negatively affected his health, and he was near death by the time he arrived in Monterey, California. He and Fanny reunited in December 1879, but she had to nurse him to recovery. His father cabled him money to help in his recovery.
Stevenson and Fanny married in May 1880. Th groom was 29-years-old, and the bride was 40-years-old. They spend their honeymoon at an abandoned mining camp on Mount Saint Helena. The couple sailed back to the United Kingdom in August 1880. Fanny helped Stevenson to reconcile with his father.
Stevenson and his wife moved frequently from place to place in the early 1880s. In 1884, they settled in their own home in the seaside town of Bournemouth, Dorset. Stevenson named their new residence "Skerryvore". He used the name of a lighthouse which his uncle Alan had constructed. In 1885, Stevenson reacquainted himself to his old friend, the novelist Henry James (1843-1916). James had moved to Bournemouth to care for his invalid sister. Stevenson and James started having daily meetings to converse over various topics. Stevenson wrote several of his popular works while living in Bournemouth, though he was frequently bedridden.
In 1887, Thomas Stevenson died. Stevenson felt that nothing tied him to the United Kingdom, and his physician had advised him that a complete change of climate might improve his health. Stevenson and much of his surviving family (including his widowed mother) traveled to the state of New York. They spend the winter at a cottage in the Adirondacks, with Stevenson starting to work on the adventure novel "The Master of Ballantrae" (1889).
In June 1888, Stevenson chartered the yacht "Casco" to transport him and his family to San Francisco. The sea air helped restore his health for a while. Stevenson decided to spend the next few years wandering in the Pacific islands. He visited the Hawaiian Islands, and befriended the local monarch Kalakaua (1836-1891, reigned 1874-1891) and his niece Ka'iulani (1875-1899). Stevenson's other voyages took him to the Gilbert Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand and the Samoan Islands.
In December 1889, Stevenson and his family at the port of Apia in the Samoan islands. He decided to settle in Samoa. In January 1890, he purchased an estate on the island. He started building Samoa's two-story house, and also started collecting local folktales. He completed an English translation of the moral fable "The Bottle Imp".\
Stevenson grew concerned with the ongoing rivalry between Britain, Germany and the United States over their influence in Samoa. He feared that the indigenous clan society would be displaced by foreigners. He published various texts in defense of the Polynesians and their culture. He also worked on "A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa" (1892), a detailed chronicle of the Samoan Civil War (1886-1894) and the international events leading up to it.
Stevenson's last fiction writings indicated his growing interest in the realist movement, and his disdain for colonialism. In December 1894, Stevenson suffered a stroke while conversing with his wife. He died hours later, at the age of 44. The local Samoans provided a watch-guard to protect his body until a tomb could be prepared for it. Stevenson was buried at Mount Vaea, on a spot overlooking the sea. A requiem composed by Stevenson himself was inscribed on the tomb.
Stevenson was seen as an influential writer of children's literature and horror fiction for much of the 20th century, but literary critics and historians had little interest in his works. He was re-evaluated in the late 20th century "as an artist of great range and insight", with scholarly studies devoted entirely to him. The Index Translationum, UNESCO's database of book translations, has ranked him as the 26th most translated writer on a global level. Stevenson ranked below Charles Dickens (25th) in the index, and ahead of Oscar Wilde (28th). His works have received a large number of film adaptations.3 -> (1880) The Pavillon on the Links (1883) Treasure Island (1886) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- British novelist A.J. Cronin was born in Dumbartonshire, Scotland, in 1896. In 1914 he entered Glasgow University to study medicine, but his studies were interrupted by World War I, in which he served in the British Navy as a surgeon sublieutenant. He received his M.B. and Ch.B. in 1919, and took a job as a ship's surgeon on a passenger liner. He afterwards took positions at several hospitals, and in 1921 he married and moved to south Wales to start a medical practice. He received his MD degree in 1925 from the University of Glasgow, and he moved to London to start a practice there.
In 1930 he began to have health problems, and while recuperating in the Scottish Highlands he wrote a story called "Hatter's Castle", which was published in 1931. It was a best-seller, was translated into five languages and later became a film (A.J. Cronin's Hatter's Castle (1942)). The book's success convinced Cronin to pursue writing full-time. Probably his most famous novel, "The Citadel", which was written in 1937, has been made into several theatrical films and a few television series. His other best-known work, "Keys of the Kingdom", was a story about a priest helping Chinese villagers survive under the brutal Japanese occupation of their country during World War II. It was also a best-seller and was made into a successful film starring Gregory Peck, The Keys of the Kingdom (1944).6 -> (1933) Kaleidoscope in "K" (1937) The Citadel (1946) The Adventures of a Black Bag (1950) The Spanish Gardener (1959) The Native Doctor (1971) Enchanted Snow - Writer
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Charles Dickens' father was a clerk at the Naval Pay Office, and because of this the family had to move from place to place: Plymouth, London, Chatham. It was a large family and despite hard work, his father couldn't earn enough money. In 1823 he was arrested for debt and Charles had to start working in a factory, labeling bottles for six shillings a week. The economy eventually improved and Charles was able to go back to school. After leaving school, he started to work in a solicitor's office. He learned shorthand and started as a reporter working for the Morning Chronicle in courts of law and the House of Commons. In 1836 his first novel was published, "The Pickwick Papers". It was a success and was followed by more novels: "Oliver Twist" (1837), "Nicholas Nickleby" (1838-39) and "Barnaby Rudge" (1841). He traveled to America later that year and aroused the hostility of the American press by supporting the abolitionist (anti-slavery) movement. In 1858 he divorced his wife Catherine, who had borne him ten children. During the 1840s his social criticism became more radical and his comedy more savage: novels like "David Copperfield" (1849-50), "A Tale of Two Cities" (1959) and "Great Expectations" (1860-61) only increased his fame and respect. His last novel, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood", was never completed and was later published posthumously.7 -> (1838) Oliver Twist (1843) A Christmas Carol (1844) The Chimes (1845) The Cricket on the Hearth (1846) The Battle of Life (1848) The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain (1862) Eines Reisenden Gepäck- Howard Fast was born on 11 November 1914 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for Spartacus (1960), The Lives of Benjamin Franklin (1974) and Mirage (1965). He was married to Mercedes O'Connor and Bette Cohen. He died on 12 March 2003 in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, USA.2 -> (1951) Spartacus (1984) The Outsider
- Agatha was born as "Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller" in 1890 to Frederick Alvah Miller and Clara Boehmer. Agatha was of American and British descent, her father being American and her mother British. Her father was a relatively affluent stockbroker. Agatha received home education from early childhood to when she turned 12-years-old in 1902. Her parents taught her how to read, write, perform arithmetic, and play music. Her father died in 1901. Agatha was sent to a girl's school in Torquay, Devon, where she studied from 1902 to 1905. She continued her education in Paris, France from 1905 to 1910. She then returned to her surviving family in England.
As a young adult, Agatha aspired to be a writer and produced a number of unpublished short stories and novels. She submitted them to various publishers and literary magazines, but they were all rejected. Several of these unpublished works were later revised into more successful ones. While still in this point of her life, Agatha sought advise from professional writer Eden Phillpotts (1862-1960). Meanwhile she was searching for a suitable husband and in 1913 accepted a marriage proposal from military officer and pilot-in-training Archibald "Archie" Christie. They married in late 1914. Her married name became "Agatha Christie" and she used it for most of her literary works, including ones created decades following the end of her first marriage.
During World War I, Archie Christie was send to fight in the war and Agatha joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment, a British voluntary unit providing field nursing services. She performed unpaid work as a volunteer nurse from 1914 to 1916. Then she was promoted to "apothecaries' assistant" (dispenser), a position which earned her a small salary until the end of the war. She ended her service in September, 1918.
Agatha wrote "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", her debut novel ,in 1916, but was unable to find a publisher for it until 1920. The novel introduced her famous character Hercule Poirot and his supporting characters Inspector Japp and Arthur Hastings. The novel is set in World War I and is one of the few of her works which are connected to a specific time period.
Following the end of World War I and their retirement from military life, Agatha and Archie Christie moved to London and settled into civilian life. Their only child Rosalind Margaret Clarissa Christie (1919-2004) was born early in the marriage. Agatha's debut novel was first published in 1920 and turned out to be a hit. It was soon followed by the successful novels "The Secret Adversary" (1922) and "Murder on the Links" (1923) and various short stories. Agatha soon became a celebrated writer.
In 1926, Archie Christie announced to Agatha that he had a mistress and that he wanted a divorce. Agatha took it hard and mysteriously disappeared for a period of 10 days. After an extensive manhunt and much publicity, she was found living under a false name in Yorkshire. She had assumed the last name of Archie's mistress and claimed to have no memory of how she ended up there. The doctors who attended to her determined that she had amnesia. Despite various theories by multiple sources, these 10 days are the most mysterious chapter in Agatha's life.
Agatha and Archie divorced in 1928, though she kept the last name Christie. She gained sole custody of her daughter Rosalind. In 1930, Agatha married her second (and last) husband Max Mallowan, a professional archaeologist. They would remain married until her death in 1976.Christie often used places that she was familiar with as settings for her novels and short stories. Her various travels with Max introduced her to locations of the Middle East, and provided inspiration for a number of novels.
In 1934, Agatha and Max settled in Winterbrook, Oxfordshire, which served as their main residence until their respective deaths. During World War II, she served in the pharmacy at the University College Hospital, where she gained additional training about substances used for poisoning cases. She incorporated such knowledge for realistic details in her stories.
She became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1956 and a Dame Commander of the same order in 1971. Her husband was knighted in 1968. They are among the relatively few couples where both members have been honored for their work. Agatha continued writing until 1974, though her health problems affected her writing style. Her memory was problematic for several years and she had trouble remembering the details of her own work, even while she was writing it. Recent researches on her medical condition suggest that she was suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other dementia. She died of natural causes in early 1976.5 -> (1933) Lord Edgware Dies (1934) Murder on the Orient Express (1941) Evil Under the Sun (1941) N or M? (1942) The Body in the Library - Writer
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Hermann Hesse was born on 2 July 1877 in Calw, Germany. He was a writer, known for The Hours (2002), Siddhartha (1972) and Poem: I Set My Foot Upon the Air and It Carried Me (2003). He was married to Ninon Ausländer, Ruth Wenger and Maria Bernoulli. He died on 9 August 1962 in Montagnola, Switzerland.7 -> (1904) Peter Carmenzind (1906) Unterm Rad (1914) Roßhalde (1919) Demian (1922) Siddhartha (1927) Der Steppenwolf (1930) Narziss und Goldmund- One of the most prominent French philosophes and the author of "L'Encyclopédie", Diderot was born in 1713, the son of a cutler. An ardent student of classical literature, he attended the University of Paris, from which he received a master of the arts degree in 1732. A radical freethinker, Diderot rejected conventional dogma and associated himself with some of the most enlightened philosophers of his age. His books were burned and Diderot himself served three months in Vincennes prison in retaliation for his attacks on the conventional morality of the day. Some of his books were considered so radical that they were banned until after his death.2 -> (1748) The Indiscreet Jewels (1796) The Nun
- Born the eldest son and third child of James and Mary Defoe, Defoe received a very good education, as his father intended him to become a Presbyterian minister, but he chose to become a merchant instead. In 1684 he joined the army of the rebel Duke of Monmouth, but when the rebellion failed, Defoe was forced into semi-exile. He went bankrupt in 1692, and began writing professionally. He wrote a satirical pamphlet in 1703 called "The Shortest Way with the Dissenters", for which he was pilloried. After a stint in Newgate prison and more troubles with his bankruptcy, Defoe wrote "Robinson Crusoe" and "Moll Flanders", both of which were great successes. Labeled a social historian for his interest in colonization, economics, and exploration, Defoe died of a lethargy in Cripplegate on 24 April 1731.5 -> (1719) Robinson Crusoe (1719) The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1722) A Journal of the Plague Year (1722) Moll Flanders (1724) Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress
- Guy de Maupassant was born on 5 August 1850 in Château de Miromesnil, France. He was a writer, known for La criada de la granja (1953), Pierre & Jeanne and Black Sabbath (1963). He died on 6 July 1893 in Paris, France.4 -> (1884) Yvette (1886) Les Cousines de la colonelle, par Madame la Vicomtesse de Coeur-Brulant (1888) Pierre et Jean (1889) Fort comme la mort
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E.T.A. Hoffmann was born on the 24th of January 1776 in Königsberg (now Russia) as the son of a lawyer. After his father's death he has a very bad childhood ending when he went to university to study law between 1792-95. He managed to get into the bureaucratic services of the state Prussia, but was not considered too well. Stations in Bamberg, Poland and elsewhere followed until he succeeded in getting good jobs in Berlin, lastly as a judge after 1814. Hoffmann died on the 25the of June 1822. Hoffmanns interests were widespread. He wrote music, painted pictures and, of course, wrote excellent examples of German literature. His scurrile style of writing, together with a critical tone in many of his works, earned him not too much renommee during lifetime. Today his music and paintings are nearly forgotten, but his writings stand as fantastic examples of German late "Romantik", for example the "Kater Murr" or the "Sandmann". Often connected to the dark side of the soul or the human being, Hoffmann wrote "normal" literature too, but his fame is basicly grounded on the "dark" literature.8 -> (1815) Schwester Monika (1816) Die Elixiere des Teufels (1819) Das Fräulein von Scuderi (1819) Der goldne Topf (1819) Klein Zaches genannt Zinnober (1820) Prinzessin Brambilla (1821) Lebensansichten des Katers Murr (1822) Meister Floh- Writer
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Daughter of Christian missionaries, Pearl Buck was reared and educated in China. She received her university education in America but returned to China in the mid-1910s. She became a university instructor and writer, eventually authoring novels about China, some of which were turned into Hollywood films, including The Good Earth (1937) and Dragon Seed (1944). She also wrote novels using the pen-name 'John Sedges', and she won the 'Nobel Prize' for Literature in 1938.1 -> (1934) The Mother- Writer
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Novelist and short-story writer Davis Grubb was a descendant of one of the oldest, most prominent families in the Moundsville, West Virginia, area. He mined the area's history for some of his works, including his award-winning first novel "The Night of the Hunter", based on a thief who romanced, then killed, two widows he met through "lonely-hearts" ads, and also slaughtered three children. Grubb was offered the opportunity to write the ground-breaking 1955 film's screenplay; instead, he drew elaborate sketches of the characters for director Charles Laughton and star Robert Mitchum, who were delighted with them. Grubb studied painting, but when his vision deteriorated he was forced to turn to writing for radio.
The actual "lonely-hearts killer" was hanged in Moundsville's Gothic-style West Virginia Penitentiary, which Grubb employed in "Night of the Hunter" and his other novel, "Fool's Parade", also made into a fine movie, starring James Stewart, Kurt Russell and George Kennedy. The penitentiary was closed in 1995 because its small 5x7 cells didn't meet current requirements for space allotted a prisoner; the so-called "haunted prison" has been the site for at least three national TV series involving ghosts.
Grubb's displaying his home area's warts (including corruption, racism and violent suppression of unions) made him a pariah to some in Moundsville. Wes Craven's short-lived TV series Glory Days (2001) portrays a similar situation about a best-selling novelist returning from the Northeast to his rural birthplace. The series featured 'Poppy Montgomery', Theresa Russell and Frances Fisher. "Glory" was a name Grubb used in his writing for a fictionalized Moundsville.
The macabre events, vivid characters and evocative descriptions in Grubb's short stories also made them perfect subjects for the TV series' The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962) and Night Gallery (1969).1 -> (1953) The Night of the Hunter- Writer
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John Dann MacDonald was born on July 24, 1916, in Sharon, Pennsylvania. He served in the OSS in the far east during World War Two. While still in the military, he wrote a short story and mailed it home to his wife, simply for her entertainment. Unknown to him, she submitted it to the magazine "Story", and it was accepted. This launched a writing career that spanned more than 40 years. MacDonald is best known for the series of detective-style novels featuring Travis McGee, with an interesting twist on the usual hard-boiled character; McGee was NOT a licensed private investigator, and in most of the novels, he agrees to recover something of value for a friend or a friend of a friend; his fee is one-half the value of the object. MacDonald had enrolled in the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, but dropped out during his sophomore year. He later completed his studies at Syracuse University, graduating in 1938, and in 1939 he received a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard University. While attending Syracuse, he met Dorothy Prentiss; they married in 1937. They had one son. At the age of 70, John D. MacDonald traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in December of 1986 to undergo heart surgery. He died at a hospital there on December 28th. He is buried in Milwaukee, at Holy Cross Cemetery and Mausoleum.1 -> (1957) The Executioners- Louis L'Amour was born on 22 March 1908 in Jamestown, North Dakota, USA. He was a writer, known for Hondo (1953), East of Sumatra (1953) and Apache Territory (1958). He was married to Kathy Adams. He died on 10 June 1988 in Los Angeles, California, USA.3 -> (1953) Hondo (1965) The Sackett Brand (1974) The Californios
- Rolf Kalmuczak was born on 17 April 1938 in Nordhausen, Thuringia, Germany. He was a writer, known for Cliff Dexter (1966), Die Journalistin (1970) and Frühstück mit dem Tod (1964). He died on 10 March 2007 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany.30 -> (1979) Die Jagd nach den Millionendieben (1979) Das leere Grab im Moor (1979) Das Paket mit dem Totenkopf (1980) Rätsel um die alte Villa (1981) Ufos in Bad Finkenstein (1982) Der Schatz in der Drachenhöhle (1982) Das Geheimnis der chinesischen Vase (1984) Das Geiseldrama (1984) Die Entführung in der Mondscheingasse (1985) Die weiße Schmuggleryacht (1985) Gefangen in der Schreckenskammer (1985) Anschlag auf den Silberpfeil (1986) Schüsse aus der Rosenhecke (1987) Bombe an Bord (1987) Gangster auf der Gartenparty (1993) Kampf um das Zauberschwert Drachenauge (1997) Mörderspiel im Burghotel (1998) Die Sekte Satans (1998) Klassenfahrt zur Hexenburg (1999) Frische Spur nach siebzig Jahren (2000) Ein cooler Typ aus der Hölle (2000) Der Mörder aus einer anderen Zeit (2000) Vergebliche Suche nach Gaby (2001) Die gefährliche Zeugin verschwindet (2002) Der Meisterdieb und seine Feinde (2003) Raubzug mit dem Bumerang (2003) Draculas Erben (2003) Todesbiss der schwarzen Mamba (2006) Es geschah in einer Regennacht (2007) Das Geheimnis der Burgruine
- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (née Godwin; 30 August 1797 - 1 February 1851) was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel "Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus" (1818). She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.
After Wollstonecraft's death less than a month after her daughter Mary was born, Mary was raised by Godwin, who was able to provide his daughter with a rich, if informal, education, encouraging her to adhere to his own liberal political theories. When Mary was four, her father married a neighbor, with whom, as her stepmother, Mary came to have a troubled relationship.
In 1814, Mary began a romance with one of her father's political followers, the then married Percy Bysshe Shelley. Together with Mary's stepsister Claire Clairmont, Mary and Shelley left for France and traveled through Europe. Upon their return to England, Mary was pregnant with Percy's child. Over the next two years, she and Percy faced ostracism, constant debt, and the death of their prematurely born daughter. They married in late 1816, after the suicide of Percy Shelley's first wife, Harriet.
In 1816, the couple famously spent a summer with Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont near Geneva, Switzerland, where Mary conceived the idea for her novel "Frankenstein". The Shelleys left Britain in 1818 for Italy, where their second and third children died before Mary Shelley gave birth to her last and only surviving child, Percy Florence Shelley. In 1822, her husband drowned when his sailing boat sank during a storm near Viareggio. A year later, Mary Shelley returned to England and from then on devoted herself to the upbringing of her son and a career as a professional author. The last decade of her life was dogged by illness, probably caused by the brain tumor that was to kill her at the age of 53.
Until the 1970s, Mary Shelley was known mainly for her efforts to publish her husband's works and for her novel "Frankenstein", which remains widely read and has inspired many theatrical and film adaptations. Recent scholarship has yielded a more comprehensive view of Mary Shelley's achievements. Scholars have shown increasing interest in her literary output, particularly in her novels, which include the historical novels "Valperga" (1823) and "Perkin Warbeck" (1830), the apocalyptic novel "The Last Man" (1826), and her final two novels, "Lodore" (1835) and "Falkner" (1837). Studies of her lesser-known works, such as the travel book "Rambles in Germany and Italy" (1844) and the biographical articles for Dionysius Lardner's "Cabinet Cyclopaedia" (1829-46), support the growing view that Mary Shelley remained a political radical throughout her life. Mary Shelley's works often argue that cooperation and sympathy, particularly as practiced by women in the family, were the ways to reform civil society. This view was a direct challenge to the individualistic Romantic ethos promoted by Percy Shelley and the Enlightenment political theories articulated by her father, William Godwin2 -> (1818) Frankenstein (1826) The Last Man - Writer
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Bram Stoker was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1847, and gained fame for his novel "Dracula" about an aristocratic vampire in Transylvania. The sequel, "Dracula's Guest," was not published for 17 years after the publication of "Dracula," two years after Stoker's death. Stoker also wrote "The Mystery of the Sea" and "Famous Imposters." He was the stage manager for actor Sir Henry Irving and wrote "Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving," after Irving's death.4 -> (1897) Dracula (1903) The Jewel of Seven Stars (1909) The Lady of the Shroud (1911) The Lair of the White Worm- Writer
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Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer of Irish descent, considered a major figure in crime fiction. His most famous series of works consisted of the "Sherlock Holmes" stories (1887-1927), consisting of four novels and 56 short stories. His other notable series were the "Professor Challenger" stories (1912-1929) about a scientist and explorer, and the "Brigadier Gerard" stories (1894-1910) about a French soldier in the Napoleonic Wars. Doyle's literary works have frequently been adapted into film and television.
In 1859, Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland to an Irish Catholic family. His father was Charles Altamont Doyle (1832 - 1893), a professional illustrator and water-colorist who is primarily remembered for fantasy-style paintings. Doyle's mother was Mary Foley (1837-1920). Through his father, Doyle was a nephew of the antiquarian James William Edmund Doyle (1822 - 1892), the illustrator Richard Doyle (1824-1883), and the gallery director Henry Edward Doyle (1827 -1893). Doyle's paternal grandfather was the political cartoonist and caricaturist John Doyle (1797-1868).
During his early years, Doyle's family had financial problems due to his father's struggles with depression and alcoholism. They received financial support from affluent uncles, who also financed Doyle's education. From 1868 to 1870, Doyle was educated at Hodder Place, a Jesuit preparatory school located at Stonyhurst, Lancashire. From 1870 to 1875, Doyle attended Stonyhurst College, a Roman Catholic boarding school. He disliked the school due to its rather limited curriculum, and the constant threats of corporal punishment and ritual humiliation used to discipline students.
From 1875 to 1876, Doyle received further education at Stella Matutina, a Jesuit school located at Feldkirch, Austria. His family wanted him to perfect his use of the German language, but this school offered a wider range of study subjects. Stella Matutina attracted student from many countries, and was more cosmopolitan in nature than Doyle's previous schools.
Doyle decided to follow a medical career. From 1876 to 1881, Doyle studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh Medical School. He also took botany lessons at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. During his university years, Doyle started writing short stories. He had trouble finding a publisher, and "Blackwood's Magazine" (1817-1980) rejected his submitted work. Doyle's first published short story was "The Mystery of Sasassa Valley" (1879), featuring a demon in South Africa. That same year, Doyle published his first academic article in a science journal. The article examined the uses of the flowering plant Gelsemium as a poison. As an experiment, Doyle self-administrated doses of the poison and recorded the symptoms.
In 1880, Doyle worked for a while as a doctor in the whaling ship "Hope". In 1881, following his graduation from medical school, Doyle served as a ship's surgeon on the SS Mayumba. In 1882, Doyle and a former classmate established a medical practice in Plymouth, Devon. Their partnership failed, and Doyle soon started his own practice in Southsea, Hampshire. He did not have many patients, so he decided to resume writing fiction to supplement his income.
In 1886, Doyle created the character of Sherlock Holmes. He loosely based his creation on his former college teacher Joseph Bell (1837 - 1911), inspired by Bell's emphasis on the importance of "deduction and inference and observation". Doyle completed the first Holmes novel, "A Study in Scarlet" (1887), and sold the rights to the publishing house "Ward, Lock & Co." (1854-1964). The novel's publication was delayed until November, 1887, but it was well-received by professional critics.
Doyle next completed the sequel novel "The Sign of the Four" (1890), commissioned from the American literary magazine Lippincott's Monthly Magazine (1868-1915). He started writing short stories about Holmes for the British literary magazine "The Strand Magazine" (1891-1950).
Besides Holmes stories, Doyle wrote seven historical novels between 1888 and 1906. He wrote "Micah Clarke" (1889), as a fictionalized account of the Monmouth Rebellion (1685) and its consequences. The novel also voices Doyle's arguments against religious extremism. He wrote "The White Company" (1891) to examine the role of mercenaries in 14th-century warfare, depicting the campaigns of Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376) in the Kingdom of Castile. He wrote "The Great Shadow" (1892) to feature the experiences of soldiers in the Battle of Waterloo (1815). He wrote "The Refugees" (1893) to examine the fates of Huguenot refugees who were fleeing 17th-century France to escape religious persecution by Louis XIV (1638-1715, reigned 1643-1715). He wrote "Sir Nigel" (1906) to examine the early phases of the Hundred Years' War (1337 - 1453). He regarded these novels to be his best literary work, though they were never as popular as his crime novels.
In 1900, Doyle served as a volunteer doctor in the Second Boer War in South Africa (1899-1902), though he had no previous military experience. He was stationed at a field hospital at Bloemfontein. At about this time, Doyle wrote the non-fiction book "The Great Boer War" (1900), which covered in detail the early phases of the war. He also wrote the companion work "The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conduct" in order to defend the British Empire from accusations of misconduct in its military efforts. These works were translated in multiple languages, and were appreciated by the British government. For his services to the British Empire, Doyle was knighted in 1902. In 1903, Doyle became a knight of the Order of Saint John, a British royal order of chivalry that was based on the original Knights Hospitaller.
In 1906, Doyle was involved in efforts to exonerate the lawyer George Edalji, a mild-mannered man who had been convicted of animal mutilations on insufficient evidence. Doyle helped publicize other instances of miscarriages of justice, and convinced the public that there was need of reforms in the legal system. In 1907, British authorities reacted to this campaign by establishing the Court of Criminal Appeal.
In 1909, Doyle wrote the non-fiction work "The Crime of the Congo" (1909). In the book, Doyle denounced the human rights abuses in the Congo Free State, and claimed that the Belgian colonial forces had enslaved the local population. He quoted testimonies from many witnesses and tried to convince the public of a need to intervene in the area.
World War I (1914-1918) was a difficult time for Doyle , as several of his relatives and friends died due to the war. Doyle's son Kingsley was seriously wounded in the Battle of the Somme (1916), and never fully recovered. Kingsley died of pneumonia in 1918, while still hospitalized. Doyle's brother, Brigadier-general Innes Doyle, died of pneumonia in 1919. Doyle's brother-in-law, the famous author E. W. Hornung, died of pneumonia in 1921. The series of deaths led Doyle to further embrace Spiritualism, and that faith's claims about existence beyond the grave. He spend much of the 1920s as a missionary of Spiritualism, and investigated supposed supernatural phenomena. He also wrote many non-fiction spiritualist works. In 1926, Doyle financed the construction of a Spiritualist Temple in Camden, London.
In July 1930, Doyle suffered a heart attack while staying in his then-residence, Windlesham Manor, in Crowborough, Sussex. He spend his last moments in reassuring his wife Jean Leckie that she was wonderful. He was 71-years-old at the time of his death. He was survived by two sons and two daughters. His daughter Jean Conan Doyle (1912 - 1997) was the copyright holder of much of her father's works until her own death.
Since Doyle was no longer a Christian at the time of his death, his family declined giving him a Christian burial place. Doyle was buried in Windlesham Manor's rose garden. His remains were later re-interred in Minstead churchyard, New Forest, Hampshire. His wife's remains were buried beside him. His gravestone epitaph described him as "Steel true/Blade straight/Arthur Conan Doyle/Knight/Patriot, Physician and man of letters".
Doyle is long gone, but his works have remained popular into the 21st century. Doyle has been cited as an influence on later crime writers, and Agatha Christie's earliest novels were strongly influenced by Sherlock Holmes' stories. His life's events have inspired several biographies, and a number of fictionalized accounts.5 -> (1887) A Study in Scarlet (1890) The Sign of the Four (1902) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1912) The Lost World (1915) The Valley of Fear- Horace Walpole was born on 24 September 1717 in London, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Post Tenebras Lux (2017) and The Castle of Otranto (1977). He died on 2 March 1797 in London, England, UK.1 -> (1764) The Castle of Otranto
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Horace McCoy was born on 14 April 1897 in Pegram, Tennessee, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Speed Wings (1934), The Lusty Men (1952) and Dangerous Mission (1954). He died on 16 December 1955 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.3 -> (1935) They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1937) No Pockets in a Shroud (1959) Corruption City- John Dickson Carr was born on 30 November 1906 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer, known for The Man with a Cloak (1951), Dangerous Crossing (1953) and The Burning Court (1962). He was married to Clarice Cleaves. He died on 27 February 1977 in Greenville, South Carolina, USA.14 -> (1931) Castle Skull (1933) Hag’s Nook (1933) The Mad Hatter Mystery (1935) The Hollow Man (1935) The Red Widow Murders (1936) The Arabian Nights Murder (1938) Death in Five Boxes (1938) The Crooked Hinge (1938) To Wake the Dead (1941) The Case of the Constant Suicides (1942) The Emperor’s Snuff-Box (1943) She Died A Lady (1951) The Devil in Velvet (1959) Scandal at High Chimneys
- Chingiz Aitmatov was a Russian-Kyrgyz writer and statesman known for such films as The First Teacher (1965), Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalim (1977) and Jamila (1995).
He was born Chingiz Torekulovich Aitmatov on December 12, 1928, in Kirgizia, Soviet Union. His family was bilingual, Russian-Kyrgyz. His father, Torekul Aitmatov, was one of the first Kyrgyz communists and a regional party secretary. In 1937, while attending the Institute for Red Professorship in Moscow, Torekul was arrested and executed on charges of anti-Soviet bourgeois nationalism. Young Aitmatov was brought up by a single mother. He attended the Russian school, then Kyrgyz Agricultural Institute in Frunze, but changed from the study of livestock to the study of literature at the Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow.
He made his literary debut in Russia, in 1952, with publication of his stories in Russian. From 1958 to 1966 he was roving correspondent for the leading Soviet Newspaper Pravda. In 1967 he became a member of the Executive Board of the Soviet Writers Union, and in 1968 he won the Soviet State Prize for literature for his novel Farewell, Gulsary!, a tale of an old man reminiscing about the parallel lives of himself and his old horse, which is dying. Aitmatov won two more State Prizes in 1977 and 1983, and was named a Hero of Socialist Labor in 1978.
From 1964 to 1985 he was Chairman of the Cinema Union of Kyrgyzian SSR, and in 1985 he was named Chairman of the Kyrgyz Writers Union. In 1990-1991 he served as an advisor to Mikhail Gorbachev and in 1990 was appointed Soviet Ambassabor to Luxemburg. He served as the Soviet and then Russian ambassador to Belgium from 1990 to 1993. In 1995, he became Kyrgyzstan's ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands and also represented his home country in the European Union, NATO and UNESCO. During the 1990s, Chingiz Aitmatov was member of the Kyrgyzstan's parliament.
His representative works : 'Jamila' (1958), 'The First Teacher' (1967), 'Farewell, Gyulsary!' (1967), 'The White Ship' (1972), and 'The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years' (1988) were translated in more than 20 languages across the world. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Aitmatov's novels found a new audience in the West and gained popularity in Germany. He died of pneumonia and kidney failure on June 10, 2008, in Nuremberg, Germany, and was laid to rest in Kyrgyzstan.2 -> (1958) Jamilia (1962) The First Teacher - Conrad Ferdinand Meyer was born on 11 October 1825 in Zurich, Switzerland. He was a writer, known for Violanta (1977), Gustav Adolfs Page (1960) and Der Schuß von der Kanzel (1942). He was married to Johanna Louise Ziegler. He died on 28 November 1898 in Kilchberg, Kanton Zürich, Switzerland.7 -> (1873) The Amulet (1876) Jürg Jenatsch (1879) The Saint (1884) The Wedding of the Monk (1885) The Judge (1887) The Temptation of Pescara (1891) Angela Borgia
- Gustav Meyrink was born on 19 January 1868 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was a writer, known for Der Mann auf der Flasche (1920), Der Schwarze Meister (1919) and Das ganze Sein ist flammend Leid (1920). He was married to Philomene Bernt and Hedwig Aloysia Certl. He died on 4 December 1932 in Starnberg, Germany.3 -> (1915) The Golem (1916) The Green Face (1917) Walpurgis Night
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Theodor Fontane was born on the 30th of December 1819 in Neuruppin (Germany) near Berlin, the son of a drugstore-owner. After learning pharmacy and working in a drugstore he quit his job to become a freelance journalist in Berlin. He was able to finance his living costs with this job, was later promoted to a Dr.phil. at the university of Berlin and died in this city on the 20th of September 1898. Theodor Fontane is one of the best known authors of the literary "poetical realism" in Germany. He wrote stories that should be realistic, true to life, but also poetic. Among his most famous works are "Effi Briest", the ultimate story of a fatal affair, and "Der Stechlin".3 -> (1880) Woman Taken in Adultery (1882) A Man of Honor (1888) Stine- Future proponent for victims of injustice and tyranny during the years prior to the French Revolution, Voltaire (born François Marie Arouet on November 21, 1694 in Paris) was educated in Paris by the Jesuits. For a time he studied law, then decided to become a writer. Witty, thought-provoking and socially critical, his unique writings inspired France's common people but angered the royalty. In 1717 he was imprisoned in the Bastille for 11 months for ridiculing Duc d'Orléans. While in prison he rewrote his tragedy "Oedipe", which upon its publication brought the young author and philosopher enormous fame and ominous notoriety; in 1726 he was forced to go into exile in England. There he became fascinated with the plays of William Shakespeare, and while shocked by their "barbaric" nature (calling Shakespeare "a drunken savage"), he was deeply affected by their genius, energy and human drama. He felt that France had much to learn from England's literature. Three years later he returned to France, writing plays and poetry as well as historical and scientific treatises, his brilliant 1734 "Lettres philosophiques" was published. Scandal followed this work, which harshly criticized the religious and political institutions. A warrant for his arrest was issued in 1734, and he fled, taking refuge at Cirey in Champagne in the home of Gabrielle Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil Marquise du Châtelet, the 28-year-old wife of the Marquis Florent du Châtelet. Here he began his professional liaison with the young, intelligent woman. Gabrielle worked with him on many philosophical and scientific topics. Her one major work was a translation of Isaac Newton's "Principia." Voltaire lived with her in the château he had renovated at his own expense. After 15 years as his guide and supporter, tragedy struck when Gabrielle died in childbirth on September 10, 1749. The baby was the presumed child of her lover, poet Jean-François de Saint-Lambert. Her husband, Voltaire, and Saint-Lambert were present at her death bed. Voltaire was overwhelmed with grief, often waking in the middle of the night calling her name. He eventually regained favor at the French court and was appointed its royal historiographer.
In 1755 he was living near Geneva, Switzerland, and wrote his most famous work, the satirical "Candide," in 1759. He later produced many anti-religious writings and his 1764 "Dictionnaire philosophique." His fame became worldwide. He was called "Innkeeper of Europe," and he entertained chic philosophers of the day and such literary figures as James Boswell, Giovanni Casanova and Edward Gibbon. Always impassioned about injustice, he took a keen interest in the case of Jean Calas, whose innocence he helped to establish. In 1761 Calas was accused, on trivial evidence, of murdering his eldest son to prevent him becoming a Roman Catholic. Calas was found guilty and executed by being broken on the wheel. Voltaire, in his late 60s by this time, spearheaded a fervent campaign, resulting in a revision of the trial. It was determined that the son had committed suicide, and the Parisian parliament declared Calas innocent in 1765. Voltaire finally returned to Paris in 1778, 28 years after leaving. He had become a beloved national celebrity, and it's believed that the frenzied excitement of such adoration from the French people aggravated his precarious health, reportedly, more than 300 people called on him the day after his arrival. He died a painful death on May 30 of uremia, only a few months after his celebrated arrival, at age 83. His nephew, the Abbé Mignot, had his body, clothed as it was the day he died, quickly transported to the Abbey of Scellières, where Voltaire was given a Christian burial; the prohibition of such a burial came after the ceremony. Because of his lifelong criticism of the church, Voltaire was denied burial in church ground. He was finally buried at an abbey in Champagne. His heart was removed from his body, and now lays in the Bibliotheque nationale in Paris. His brain was also removed, but after a series of moves during the next hundred years, it disappeared following an auction. Voltaire's remains were moved to the Panthéon in Paris during the Revolution in July 1791. In 1814, a group of right-wing religious "ultras" stole Voltaire's remains from his enormous sarcophagus and dumped them in a garbage heap. The theft went undetected for about 50 years.5 -> (1747) Zadig or Destiny (1755) La Pucelle d'Orleans (1759) Candide or Optimism (1767) The Huron or Pupil of Nature (1768) The Princess of Babylon - Writer
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Jostein Gaarder was born in Oslo, Norway in 1952. His parents' occupations presaged his own interests in teaching and writing -- his father was a headmaster and his mother a teacher and author of children's books. Gaarder attended the Oslo Katerdralskole and the University of Oslo, where he studied Scandinavian languages and theology. Following his 1974 marriage, Gaarder began to write, contributing to several textbooks on philosophy and theology. His family moved to Bergen in 1981, where he began to teach high school philosophy, a post he held for several years. His first fiction book, Diagnosen og andre noveller (The Diagnosis and Other Stories) was published in 1986. Two books for children followed, Barna fra Sukhavati (The Children from Sukhavati, 1987) and Froskeslottet (The Frog Castle, 1988) before the publication of Kabalmysteriet (The Solitaire Mystery) in 1990. Kabalmysteriet won both the Norwegian Literary Critics' Award and the Ministry of Cultural and Scientific Affairs Literary Prize Sofies verden (Sophie's World) followed in 1991 and was a gigantic success.
For three years running it was Norway's number one best-seller, and it repeated this success in nearly every country in which it appeared. To date, the book has been published in 44 languages and was the best-selling fiction book in the world in 1995, an astonishing achievement for what is essentially a textbook in the form of a novel. The success of Sophie's World allowed Gaarder to become a full-time writer. He continues to publish a new book every one to two years. Gaarder, his wife Siri, and their two sons live in Oslo.11 -> (1988) The Frog Castle (1990) The Solitaire Mystery (1991) Sophie's World (1992) The Christmas Mystery (1993) Through a Glass, Darkly (1996) That Same Flower (1999) Maya (2001) The Ringmaster's Daughter (2003) The Orange Girl (2008) The Castle in the Pyrenees (2013) Anna. A fable about the earth's climate and environment- Writer
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Johann Wolfgang Goethe was born on 28 August 1749 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany as son of a lawyer. After growing up in a privileged upper middle class family, he studied law in Leipzig from 1765 to 1768, although he was more interested in literature. As he was seriously ill, he had to interrupt his studies, but finally graduated in Strassburg with a degree in law. In the following years, his novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther" (1774) became one of the first bestsellers, making him a key author in the "Sturm und Drang" (Storm and Stress) movement. In 1775, he settled down in Weimar, being the Duke's adviser and writing popular dramas such as "Egmont" or "Torquato Tasso". One of his life's important milestones was the Italian Journey from 1786 and 1788, where he discovered his interest in Greek and Roman classicism. After his return to Germany, he began the "Weimar Classicism" movement with his good friend Friedrich Schiller, concentrating on poems and dramas such as his best known work "Faust", which he published in two parts (1808/1832). Beside his literary work, he contributed many interesting theories to sciences, making him Germany's leading polymath in that period. On 22 March 1832, he died in Weimar, the town he had lived for more than fifty years.3 -> (1774) The Sorrows of Young Werther (1794) Reineke Fuchs (1809) Elective Affinities- Writer
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Lagerlöf made her debut in 1891 with The Gösta Berling saga, a story about her own region, Värmland and her home, the country manor Mårbacka. With her novel she starts the wave of romantic nationalist literature in Sweden of the 1890s. Her novel Jerusalem (1901-02) is about religious emigrants from Sweden to Palestine. She is the author of Sweden's most read novel, The Adventures of Nils Holgerssons (1906), a story about a boy traveling across Sweden on the back of a goose. Her stories often evolve around folklore and supernatural events. One of the peaks in her career was her novel The Emperor of Portugal (1914). In 1907 she got a honorary degree at the University of Uppsala, in 1909 she got the Nobel Prize and 1914 she became a member of the Swedish Academy. Her home Mårbacka is now a museum visited by thousands of tourists every year.1 -> (1907) The Wonderful Adventures of Nils- Waldemar Bonsels was born on 21 February 1881 in Ahrensburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. He was a writer and director, known for Die Biene Maja und ihre Abenteuer (1926), Maya (1975) and Maya the Bee: The Honey Games (2018). He was married to Rose-Marie Bachofen, Klara Brandenburg and Elise Ostermeyer. He died on 31 July 1952 in Ambach, Münsing, Bavaria, Germany.1 -> (1912) The Adventures of Maya the Bee
- Irving Stone was born on 14 July 1903 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was a writer, known for Lust for Life (1956), The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) and Magnificent Doll (1946). He was married to Jean Factor and Lona Mosk. He died on 26 August 1989 in Los Angeles, California, USA.3 -> (1951) The President's Lady (1954) Love is Eternal (1961) The Agony and the Ecstasy
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Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Missouri in 1835, grew up in Hannibal. He was a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River. Throughout his career, Twain served as a writer, lecturer, reporter, editor, printer, and prospector. Twain took his pen name from an alert cry used on his steamboat - "by the mark, twain".3 -> (1876) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1884) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1896) Tom Sawyer, Detective- Karl May was born on 25 February 1842 in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Kingdom of Saxony [now Saxony, Germany]. He was a writer, known for Auf den Trümmern des Paradieses (1920), Caravan of Death (1920) and Durch die Wüste (1936). He was married to Klara Plöhn and Emma Pollmer. He died on 30 March 1912 in Radebeul, Kingdom of Saxony [now Saxony], Germany.4 -> (1877) Die Gum (1879) Das Kafferngrab (1882) Der Krumir (1891) Der Schatz im Silbersee
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Rosemary Sutcliff was born on 14 December 1920 in East Clandon, Surrey, England, UK. She was a writer, known for The Eagle (2011), Sword of the Valiant (1984) and Ghost Story (1974). She died on 23 July 1992 in Arundel, Sussex, England, UK.3 -> (1950) The Chronicles of Robin Hood (1979) The Light Beyond the Forest (1981) The Sword and the Circle- Jeffrey Archer has topped the bestseller lists around the world, with sales of over 275 million copies in 100 countries and more than 50 languages, and more than 500,000 5* reviews.
His books have been #1 in 17 countries (US (New York Times), UK (Sunday Times) Germany (Der Spiegel), Australia, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand, India (The Times of India), Ireland, Finland, South Africa & Denmark & Others.
27 different titles have been #1 bestsellers.
He is only author ever to have been a #1 bestseller in fiction (twenty times), short stories (four times) and non-fiction (The Prison Diaries).
He has written 25 novels, 93 short stories, 3 plays, 3 children's books, 3 prison diaries, 3 plays and 2 screenplays.
His 26th novel, Next in Line, will be published worldwide on 29 October 2022.5 -> (1976) Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (1979) Kane and Abel (1982) The Prodigal Daughter (1986) A Matter of Honour (1998) The Eleventh Commandment - Born April 5, 1920 in Luton, England, Arthur Hailey decided to become a full-time author in 1956 following the success of his original television drama Flight Into Danger (1956). For the next few years, he wrote teleplays for such legendary dramatic series as Playhouse 90 (1956), Kraft Theatre (1947), The United States Steel Hour (1953), "Goodyear-Philco Playhouse" (1955)_ and Studio One (1948). Soon after, Hailey became a novelist. "Flight Into Danger" was adapted as a novel, "Runway Zero-Eight" (1958). In 1959, "The Final Diagnosis" became his second bestseller and, in 1961, "In High Places" became his third.
It took Hailey four years to write his next novel: "Hotel" (1965), which remained on the national bestseller lists for a full year. "Airport" (1968) did even better. It was on the national lists for over a year, staying in the number one spot on The New York Times bestseller lists for an incredible 30 weeks. "Wheels" (1971), "The Moneychangers" (1975) and "Overload" (1979) also claimed the number one position on the national bestseller lists, further establishing Hailey as one of today's most popular novelists.
In 1979, Arthur Hailey announced his retirement. At this time, he discovered he was very ill and underwent a quadruple bypass heart operation. The surgery was a tremendous success, leaving Mr. Hailey feeling invigorated and bursting with creative energy. His wife, Sheila, suggested he put his energy to use and write another book. "Strong Medicine" was the wonderful result.2 -> (1984) Strong Medicine (1997) Detective - Writer
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Grew up in Småland outside Vimmerby in the south of Sweden. Her first book came out in 1944, and she made a breakthrough the following year with the stories about Pippi Longstocking. Countless stories about Pippi and other characters of Astrid's imagination and excellent story telling ability were translated to at least 55 languages and told to millions of children all over the world. Many of the stories were adapted for TV and even the big screen. She moved to Stockholm early, and she died peacefully in her home after a brief illness on January 28, 2002 at the age of 94.3 -> (1945) Pippi Longstocking (1946) Pippi Goes On Board (1948) Pippi in the South Seas- Writer
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Dan Brown was born on 22 June 1964 in Exeter, New Hampshire, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Inferno (2016), The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Angels & Demons (2009). He was previously married to Blythe Newlon.4 -> (2000) Angels & Demons (2003) The Da Vinci Code (2009) The Lost Symbol (2013) Inferno- Howard Pyle was born on 5 April 1853 in Wilmington, Delaware, USA. He was a writer, known for The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), The Adventures of Robin Hood (2018) and World Fairy Tale (1994). He died on 9 November 1911 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy.1 -> (1883) The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
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Albert Schweitzer was born on January 14, 1875, in Kaysersberg, near Strasbourg, Elsass-Lothringen, Germany (now in Alsace, France). His father and both grandfathers were pastors and organists. His family had been devoted to education, religion and music for generations.
Schweitzer took music lessons from his grandfather, a church organist. He spoke German and French in his bilingual Alsace family, and later added English to his studies. From 1893-1899 he studied philosophy and theology at the University of Strasbourg, University of Berlin and the Sorbonne. In 1899 he completed a doctorate dissertation on the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. From 1905-1912 he studied medicine in Strasbourg and Paris, and received his MD degree in tropical medicine and surgery in 1912.
From the age of 9 Schweitzer started regular performances of organ music in his father's church and continued his organ recitals until the age of 89. In 1905 he wrote a biography of Johann Sebastian Bach, in French, then he rewrote and updated the Bach book--in German--in 1908, the version considered definitive. Schweitzer also published a book on organ building and playing in 1906. He was involved in the restoration of many valuable historic organs worldwide, including construction of the organ at his hospital in Lambarene, where he played music for his patients. He was described as the doctor who returns health to ill people and music to old organs. Albert Schweitzer made notable organ recordings of Bach's music in the 1940s and 1950s. Schweitzer based his interpretation on his profound knowledge of personality, education, religious and social life of Bach.
In 1905 he began his medical studies at the University of Strasbourg, because he decided to go to Africa as a medical doctor rather than a pastor. His medical knowledge was in urgent need during an epidemic of sleeping sickness there. In 1913 he obtained his MD degree, but was turned down by the Paris Missionary Society because his very liberal views of Christ's teachings did not conform to the Society's orthodox beliefs. Schweitzer and his wife went to Lambarene, French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon), and started a hospital in a tent, gradually adding rooms for special cases of sleeping sickness, leprosy, paediatrics and surgery. After his release from French internment Schweitzer practiced medicine in Strasbourg from 1918-1923. In 1924 he returned to his hospital in Lambarene, which was to be restored after years of decay during his absence. There his medical practice included paediatrics, infectious diseases and epidemiology, as well as surgery and traumatology. His versatility in medicine helped to save many thousands of lives. Schweitzer donated his royalties from public performances and book publications to the hospital, which expanded to 500 beds by the 1950s. "Everyone must have his 'Lambarene'", said Schweitzer.
Schweitzer gained great reputation for writing "The Quest of the Historical Jesus" (1906). He was acclaimed for his two concise books on in 1905-1908. In 1917 Schweitzer and his wife were arrested by the French administration in Africa for being Germans, and sent to a French internment camp at the St. Remy mental institution. There Schweitzer was kept at the same room where Vincent Van Gogh lived before his suicide. The Schweitzers were prisoners of war until the end of the First World War in 1918. After his release Schweitzer gave a major speech about his "Reverence for Life" (1920). He spent six years in Europe and published "The Decay and the Restoration of Civilization" (1923) and "Civilization and Ethics" (1923), which he drafted during his captivity in St. Remy.
Schweitzer saved lives by his medical work, by writing and teaching and by advocating for peace and nuclear control. He admittedly followed the similar line as that of the Russian humanitarian and writer Lev Tolstoy. As the founder of a free public hospital, a writer and humanitarian, Schweitzer became the leading proponent of accessible medicine for all. He was also involved in the foundation of the Goethe Institute. From 1952 until his death Schweitzer worked against nuclear weapons together with Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell. On December 10, 1953, Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He donated his prize money to build a leprosy clinic in Lambarene. In 1957 Schweitzer co-founded The Committee for a sane Nuclear Policy.
As it was told, many girls adored Schweitzer, but Helene Bresslau offered him thoughtful partnership and practicality instead of flattery. Schweitzer and Helen began their relationship in 1898, as students. In many hundreds of their letters they only once used the word "love". Schweitzer called his medical work "the religion of love, actually put into practice." The disapproval, conservatism and shallowness of many Christian friends and even his own father did not stop him from his career change to medicine in 1905. Only Helene Bresslau understood him. In 1912 Schweitzer married her before they went to Equatorial Africa. It was a passionate, profound joining of souls. She trained as a nurse and became his assistant in medical work, in writing and in international public service. Their daughter, Rhena, was born in 1919, she later became the lab analyst at her father's hospital in Africa. His cousin Anne-Marie Schweitzer was the mother of Jean-Paul Sartre, who called Schweitzer 'Uncle Al'.
Schweitzer was a multifaceted person, a true Renessance man. He was a doctor, a pastor, a teacher, a writer, a musician, a father and husband, an international lecturer and the leading proponent of peace, all at the same time. He admired all people as brothers and sisters. His openness and helpfulness to strangers was disarming and ennobling. He was learning from simple people through his entire life, being himself patient, modest and humble. "Why are you traveling in the 4th class?" some official asked him - "Because there is no 5th class", answered Schweitzer.
His humor was legendary. His look resembled that of his friend Albert Einstein. Once on a train he was asked by two schoolgirls, "Dr. Einstein, will you give us your autograph?" He did not want to disappoint them, so he signed their autograph book: "Albert Einstein, by his friend Albert Schweitzer."
He died on September 4, 1965, in the hospital, which he founded in 1913, and was laid to rest in the ground of his hospital in Lambarene, Gabon.1 -> (1921) On the Edge of the Primeval Forest- Marvin H. Albert was born on 22 January 1924 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer, known for The Don Is Dead (1973), Duel at Diablo (1966) and A Twist of Sand (1968). He died on 24 March 1996 in Menton, Alpes-Maritimes, France.1 -> (1959 - Novel about the Movie) Pillow Talk
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Emmanuelle Arsan was born on 19 January 1932 in Bangkok, Thailand. She was a writer and actress, known for Laure (1976), The Sand Pebbles (1966) and Emmanuelle (1974). She was married to Louis-Jacques Rollet-Andriane. She died on 12 June 2005 in Chantelouve, Callas, Var, France.9 -> (1967) Emmanuelle Livre 1 – La leçon d'homme (1968) Emmanuelle Livre 2 – L'anti-vierge (1969) Emmanuelle Livre 3 – Nouvelles de l'érosphère (1974) Emmanuelle Livre 4 – L'hypothèse d'Eros (1975) Emmanuelle Livre 5 – Les enfants d'Emmanuelle (1976) Laure (1988) Les soleils d'Emmanuelle (1991) Chargée de mission (1994) Aurélie- Helen Cresswell was born on 11 June 1934 in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, England, UK. She was a writer, known for The Demon Headmaster (1996), Moondial (1988) and The Secret World of Polly Flint (1987). She was married to Brian Rowe. She died on 26 September 2005 in Eakring, Nottinghamshire, England, UK.1 -> (1984) The Secret World of Polly Flint
- John Cleland was born in 1710 in England. He was a writer, known for Fanny Hill (1983), Fanny Hill (1968) and Fanny Hill (1995). He died in 1789 in England.1 -> (1748) Fanny Hill: or, the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure
- Nicolas Restif de La Bretonne was born on 23 November 1734 in Sacy, Yonne, France. He was a writer, known for 4 Days in France (2016), The Secrets of Love: Three Rakish Tales (1986) and The Pleasure (1985). He died on 3 February 1806 in Paris, France.1 -> (1798) Anti-Justine
- Claude-Prosper de Jolyot Crebillon is known for The Night and the Moment (1994), Television Theater (1953) and Blúznenie srdca a rozumu (1997).1 -> (1742) Le Sopha
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Alfred de Musset was a french romantic poet and dramatist. His autobiographical novel "The Confession of a Child of the Century" and his play "Lorenzaccio" are his most famous works. He is also known for his love affair with George Sand which considerably influenced his texts. He was elected to the French Academy in 1852.1 -> (1833) Gamiani, or Two Nights of Excess- Writer
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Robert Arthur was born on 10 November 1909 in Corregidor, Philippines. He was a writer and producer, known for Dark Destiny (1952), Historias para no dormir (1966) and Suspense (1949). He was married to Joan Vaczek and Susan Smith Cleveland. He died on 2 May 1969 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.8 -> (1964) The Secret of Terror Castle (1964) The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot (1965) The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy (1965) The Mystery of the Green Ghost (1966) The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure (1966) The Secret of Skeleton Island (1967) The Mystery of the Fiery Eye (1967) The Mystery of the Silver Spider- Writer
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Edgar Wallace was born on 1 April 1875 in Greenwich, London, England, UK. He was a writer and director, known for King Kong (2005), King Kong (1933) and King Kong (1976). He was married to Ethel Violet King and Ivy Maude Caldecott. He died on 10 February 1932 in Hollywood, California, USA.6 -> (1923) The Green Archer (1925) The Gaunt Stranger (1925) The Fellowship of the Frog (1926) The Door With Seven Locks (1926) The Terrible People (1927) The Hand of Power- Writer
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Roy Huggins was born on 18 July 1914 in Litelle, Washington, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for The Fugitive (1993), City of Angels (1976) and U.S. Marshals (1998). He was married to Adele Mara and Bonnie Marie Porter. He died on 3 April 2002 in Santa Monica, California, USA.1 -> (1946) The Double Take- Writer
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Pascal Lainé is known for Tender Cousins (1980), The Lacemaker (1977) and Le jardin des supplices (1976).1 -> (1979) Tender Cousins- Writer
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Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, Maharashtra, India, the son of John Lockwood Kipling, a museum director and author and illustrator. This was at the height of the "British Raj", so he was brought up by Indian nurses ("ayahs"), who taught him something of the beliefs and tongues of India. He was sent "home" to England at the age of six to live with a foster mother, who treated him very cruelly. He then spent five formative years at a minor public school, the United Services College at Westward Ho! which inspired "Stalky & Co.". He returned to India as a journalist in 1882. By 1890 he had published, in India, a major volume of verse, "Departmental Ditties", and over 70 Indian tales in English, including "Plain Tales from the Hills" and the six volumes of the "Indian Railway Library". When he arrived in London in October 1889, at the age of 23, he was already a literary celebrity. In 1892 he married Caroline Balestier, the daughter of an American lawyer, and set up house with her in Brattleboro, Vermont, where they lived for four years. While in Vermont he wrote the two "Jungle Books" and "Captains Courageous". In 1901 he wrote "Kim" and in 1902 "The Just So Stories" that explained things like "How the Camel Got Its Hump". From 1902 they made their home in Sussex, England. He subsequently published many collections of stories, including "A Diversity of Creatures", "Debits and Credits" (1926) and "Limits and Renewals" (1932). These are now thought by many to contain some of his finest writing, although his introspection may well have been influenced by the death of their only son in the First World War. Although vilified by some as "the poet of British imperialism" in the past, nowadays he may be regarded as a great story-teller with an extraordinary gift for writing of peoples of many cultures and classes and backgrounds from the inside.4 -> (1894) Mowgli (1895) Mowgli Returns (1901) Kim (1906) Puck of Pook’s Hill- Writer
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Felix Salten was born on 6 September 1869 in Pest, Hungary. He was a writer and director, known for Bambi (1942), Poor as a Church Mouse (1931) and Der Narr des Schicksals (1915). He was married to Ottilie Metzl. He died on 8 October 1945 in Zurich, Switzerland.2 -> (1906) Josefine Mutzenbacher (1923) Bambi- Writer
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James Matthew "J. M." Barrie was a Scottish novelist and playwright. He had a distinguished career, but is primarily remembered for creating Peter Pan and his supporting characters. He used the character of Pan in the novel "The Little White Bird" (1902), the stage play "Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" (1904). the novel "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens" (1906), the play "When Wendy Grew Up - An Afterthought" (1908), and the novel "Peter and Wendy" (1911).
In 1860,. Barrie was born in the burgh of Kirriemuir, in the county of Forfarshire. The county has since been renamed to "Angus". In the 19th century, Kirriemuir was center for the weaving industry, Barrie's father was David Barrie, a moderately prosperous weaver. Barrie's primary caregiver was his mother Margaret Ogilvy, who introduced him to English-language literature at an early age. Barrie was the 9th child born to the couple, out of ten children.
In 1866, Barrie's older brother David Barrie was killed in an ice-skating accident. David was Margaret's favorite son, and she was devastated by his death. Barrie started imitating his dead brother, in an effort to serve as a replacement for him. Barrie's mother reportedly found comfort in the fact that her dead son would remain a boy forever, never to grow up and leave her.
In 1868, Barrie started attending the Glasgow Academy, an independent day school located in Glasgow. At the time, two of his older siblings were among the school's teachers. In 1870, Barrie was transferred to the Forfar Academy. It was a comprehensive school located in Forfar, and it was closer to his parents' house. In 1874, Barrie was enrolled at the Dumfries Academy, a grammar school located in Dumfries.
As a teenager, Barrie was a bibliophile. He enjoyed reading penny dreadfuls, serial literature sold at a cheap price. He also enjoyed reading the juvenile fiction of Robert Michael Ballantyne ( 1825 - 1894), and the historical novels of James Fenimore Cooper (1789 - 1851). Barrie was part of a group which liked to re-enact the adventures of pirates. He was also part of a drama club at Dumfries. While a teenager, he wrote and produced his first play: "Bandelero the Bandit". The play was denounced by a local clergyman for its supposed immorality.
Barrie aspired to become a professional writer, but his family insisted that he must attend university first. Barrie enrolled at the University of Edinburgh. While a college student, he started working at the newspaper "Edinburgh Evening Courant" as their drama reviewer. He graduated from university in 1882.
Following graduation, Barrie worked as a staff journalist for the newspaper "Nottingham Journal". Meanwhile he started working on short stories based on the life story of his grandfather. He eventually reworked this story into a trilogy of novels: "Auld Licht Idylls" (1888), "A Window in Thrums" (1890), and "The Little Minister "(1891). The stories depicted life within the "Auld Lichts", a religious sect which his grandfather had joined. These novels were popular at the time, though largely based on the industrialized Scotland's nostalgia for a bygone era.
In the 1890s, Barrie started working on theatrical works. An early success for him was "Ibsen's Ghost, or Toole Up-to-Date" (1891), a parody of the plays of Henrik Ibsen (1828 -1906). The play was largely based on two of Ibsen's plays, "Ghosts" (1881) and "Hedda Gabler" (1891) .
While working as a playwright, Barrie met and courted the actress Mary Ansell (1861 -1950). The two of them were married in 1894, though they reputedly never consummated their marriage. The marriage lasted until 1909, ending in a divorce. Barrie resented Ansell's extramarital affair with a younger man, the novelist Gilbert Cannan (1884 -1955). Following a second failed marriage of Ansell, Barrie voluntarily started financially supporting her. Until his death in 1937, Barrie gave her an annual allowance.
In 1901, Barrie published one of his most successful plays, "Quality Street". The protagonist Phoebe Throssel was a respectable school mistress, who started pretending to be a younger woman in older to reclaim the heart of her former suitor. The initial run of the play in London lasted for 459 performances. The play was frequently revived until the 1940s.
In 1902, Barrie had another hit with the survival-themed play "The Admirable Crichton". The play depicts an aristocratic family and their servants as shipwreck survivors. While living in a desert island, the butler Crichton turns out to be a far more effective leader than his employer. This satire on class relationships had an initial run of 828 performances.
In 1902, Barrie introduced the character of Peter Pan, which became his most popular creation. He liked contrasting the typical middle class life of the Edwardian era, with the adventurous life and ambivalent morality of the fictional Neverland. While most of the Pan stories were written for a child audience, their social commentary also attracted adults. Barrie was praised by fellow writer George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) for these stories.
In 1909, Barrie was part of a campaign by several playwrights to challenge the United Kingdom's strict censorship laws. In 1911, Barrie was part of the anti-censorship's campaign second wave. In 1910, he commented on marital relations with the play "The Twelve Pound Look". In the play, a married woman seeks a divorce. She has gained financial independence and no longer needs her husband. The play was considered controversial at the time.
In 1917, Barrie explored the concept of the alternate reality in the play "Dear Brutus". In the play, a group of adult characters feel that they have taken wrong turns in their lives. A magic users offers them glimpses into the lives of their alternate reality counterparts, which took different life decisions. Some of them are enlightened by the experience, others learn nothing of value. The play was a hit, running for 363 performances in its initial run. It was revived in 1922.
In 1920, Barrie wrote the mystery play "Mary Rose". It was the last notable hit in his career. The play's protagonist mysteriously vanishes twice. She first disappears as a child. She re-appears 21 days later, but she has no recollection of where she was. As an adult, Mary Rose vanishes again. She leaves a husband and a son behind. She re-appears decades later, with no recollection of where she was again. But she has not aged a single day, and she is now physically younger than her own son. The play offers no definite answers to its mystery. It has experienced several revivals.
In 1929, Barrie gave the copyright right to Peter Pan (and any royalties gained from it) to the children's hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital. The royalties have continued to financially support the hospital ever since. The copyright was extended indefinitely by a special provision in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Barrie continued producing new works into the 1930s, though none were particularly groundbreaking. His last play was the Bible-themed story "The Boy David" (1936). It concerned the relationship between the aging Saul, King of Israel and his youthful son-in-law and prospective heir David. The play was based on the "Books of Samuel". A play which Barrie wrote but never produced was "The Reconstruction of the Crime", published posthumously in 2017.
By 1937, had moved into a nursing home in London. In June 1937, he died there due to pneumonia. He was 77-years-old at the time of his death. He was buried in his native Kirriemuir, in the family grave previously used by his parents and some of his siblings. His will left provision for his ex-wife Mary Ansell and a number of Barrie's surrogate children from the Llewelyn Davies family. Barrie left the majority of his estate to his longtime secretary Lady Cynthia Asquith ( 1887 -1960). Barrie had no known descendants.
Several of Barrie's works have remained popular into the 21st century. Peter Pan has frequently been adapted into various media, and has inspired a number of unofficial sequels. Tourists continue visiting locations in Kirriemuir which are associated with him. Barrie's long-lasting fame has not faded.1 -> (1911) Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up- Born in Walsall, Staffordshire, in 1859, son of an unsuccessful ironmonger. Raised in London, and educated at Marylebone Grammar School. Started work as railway clerk at fourteen, and later worked as schoolmaster, actor and journalist. Two volumes of humorous essays preceded "Three Men In A Boat" (1889), which saw immediate and enormous success. This enabled him to become one of the founders of the humorous magazine "The Idler", which featured work by Bret Harte and Mark Twain, amongst others. Wrote a number of plays in a similar style to his friend J.M. Barrie. The most memorable of these is probably "The Passing Of The Third Floor Back".1 -> (1889) Three Men in a Boat
- Born a rich nobleman, Marquis being his title rather than his birth name, De Sade gradually became a decadent libertine among the French society of Louis XVI. A liberally educated iconoclast, he wrote prose and verse, and specialized in testing the limits of decency, breaking tabboos and shocking the aristocracy, often with sordid details drawn from real life. He was thought to have committed much of the perversions and debauchery he had written about. He was incarcerated in an asylum shortly before the French Revolution. After a decade of feverish creativity, he willingly gave up writing and lived his remaining years in uneventful calm. De Sade has been portrayed in movie and TV by Daniel Auteuil, Stuart Devenie, Keir Dullea, Robert Englund, Klaus Kinski, Patrick Magee, Nick Mancuso, Geoffrey Rush, Brother Theodore, and Conrad Veidt.2 -> (1785) The 120 Days of Sodom (1795) Philosophy in the Bedroom
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Cornelia Funke was born at Dorsten, Westphalia. She started as a book illustrator but then decided to write her own stories. She has written over forty scripts and books. Her most famous books include "Thief Lord", "Inkheart" and "Dragon Rider", all of these are New York Times bestselling books. Her most recent book is called "Inkspell", which is "Inkheart"'s" sequel. The books "Thief Lord" and Inkheart" are going to be movies. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two children.5 -> (1993) Die wilden Hühner (1996) Die wilden Hühner: Auf Klassenfahrt (1998) Die wilden Hühner: Fuchsalarm (2000) Die wilden Hühner: Das Glück der Erde (2003) Die wilden Hühner: Die Liebe- Writer
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Adelbert von Chamisso was born on 30 January 1781 in France. She was a writer, known for Walpurgis Night (1935), Le théâtre de la jeunesse (1960) and Your Favorite Story (1953). She died on 21 August 1838 in Berlin, Germany.1 -> (1814) Peter Schlemihl's Miraculous Story- Patricia Highsmith was born on 19 January 1921 in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. She was a writer, known for The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Strangers on a Train (1951) and The Two Faces of January (2014). She died on 4 February 1995 in Locarno, Switzerland.2 -> (1952) Carol (1977) Edith's Diary
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Ingrid Noll was born on 29 September 1935 in Shanghai, China. She is a writer, known for Kalt ist der Abendhauch (2000), Méi you bié de ài and The Pharmacist (1997). She has been married to Peter Gullatz since 1959. They have three children.1 - (1994) Die Apothekerin- Writer
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Georges Simenon was a Belgian novelist, writing in the French language. He published nearly 500 different novels, and a large number of short stories. He became internationally famous for creating the French police detective Jules Maigret, as the protagonist in a celebrated series of mystery novels. Between 1931 and 1972, Simenon published 75 novels and 28 short stories about Maigret and his supporting cast. The Maigret stories have often been adapted into films, television series, and radio shows.
In 1903, Simenon was born in Liège, Belgium. His parents were the accountant Désiré Simenon and his wife Henriette Brüll. His father worked as an accountant for an insurance company. They were members of the wider Simenon family, a line of peasants from Limburg whose history had been recorded since the 1580s. Simenon's maternal ancestry was primarily German and Dutch. His mother was reputedly a distant descendant of the famed robber Gabriel Brühl (died in 1743). Simenon would later use the family name "Brühl" as one of his pen names.
In 1905, the Simenon family moved to the Outremeuse neighborhood of Liège, where Simenon would spend most of his childhood. In 1911, they moved to a larger house in the same neighborhood. The family started taking in lodgers to supplement their income. The young Simenon regularly interacted with these lodgers, who were apprentices and students of various nationalities. These interactions gave him his first taste of cosmopolitanism.
In September 1914, Simenon started attending the Collège Saint-Louis, a Jesuit high school. He dropped out of high school in June 1918, deciding against taking his year-end exams. He supported himself through a series of odd-jobs. In January 1919, the adolescent Simenon was hired as a journalist by the newspaper "Gazette de Liège". His assignments consistent of "human interest" stories, which were thought to be of trivial importance. Simenon grew interested in the seamier side of life in Liège, and started to frequent bars and cheap hotels in search of information. He also grew interested in police investigations, and attended lectures on police technique by the famed criminologist Edmond Locard (1877-1966).
Simenon wrote his first novel in June 1919, but it was not published in book form until 1921. During the early 1920s, Simenon started hanging out with members of "La Caque", a group of Bohemian artists. He was introduced by them to Régine "Tigy" Renchon, who became his girlfriend. In 1922, Simenon's father died. Simenon took the decision to move with Tigy to Paris, where he got acquainted with ordinary working-class Parisians. The city's bistros, cheap hotels, bars and restaurants would later become settings for his novels.
In 1928, Simenon took an extended sea voyage for a journalistic assignment. He discovered that he liked water travel. In 1929, he had a boat house constructed for himself and his wife, called the "Ostrogoth". They used it to travel through the French canal system. Joining them in their travels was their housekeeper Henriette "Boule" Liberge, who became Simenon's mistress. Their romantic relationship lasted for decades, unlike Simenon's previous short-lived affairs.
In 1930, Simenon wrote the first Maigret story during a boat trip in the Netherlands. It was published the following year. In 1932, Simenon's journalistic assignments caused him to travel across Africa, eastern Europe, Turkey, and the Soviet Union. In 1933, Simenon interviewed the exiled politician Leon Trotsky in Istanbul. Simenon took a trip around the world from 1934 to 1935. For much of the 1930s, Simenon was a permanent foreign resident in France.
During World War II, Simenon lived in Vendée, France. He maintained decent relationships with the German occupation authorities, and negotiated film rights of his books with German studios. Following the end of the war, Simenon was accused of being a German collaborator, but with little apparent evidence. In 1950, the French authorities temporarily forbid him to publish new works as punishment for his supposed collaboration, but the sentence was not enforced.
In 1945, Simenon left France with his wife for an extended stay in Quebec, Canada. He wrote three novels in the local city of Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson. For the following decade, Simenon and his family moved constantly across Canada and the United States. He learned to speak English with relative ease, and so did his mistress Boule. In 1949, Simenon divorced Tigy, but continued living in close proximity with her, in accordance with the divorce agreement. In 1950, Simenon married his second wife Denyse Ouimet (a French-Canadian) in Reno, Nevada. She was 17 years younger than Simenon himself. Denyse was his former secretary, and they had been romantically involved since 1945.
In 1952, Simenon briefly returned to Belgium, as he was made a member of the "Académie Royale de Belgique" (Royal Academy of Belgium). He had not actually lived in Belgium since 1922, but he remained a Belgian citizen and had become the country's most famous writer. Simenon permanently left the United States in 1955. He initially settled back in France, but then decided to move to Switzerland. In 1963, he had a new house constructed for himself in Épalinges, Vaud.
In 1964, Simenon and his wife Denyse separated permanently. His housekeeper Teresa had become his new long-term mistress. In 1978, Simenon was shocked when his daughter Marie-Jo committed suicide at the age of 25. In 1984, Simenon underwent surgery for a brain tumor. He recovered well, but his health further deteriorated during the last years of his life. In September 1989, he died in his sleep while staying in Lausanne,. He was 86-years-old at the time of his death, and had not published any major work for several years.
Simenon's works have remained popular into the 21st century. According to the 2019 version of the Index Translationum by UNESCO, Simenon was the 17th most translated writer on a global scale. In the Index, Simenon outranked the likes of of Astrid Lindgren (18th) and Pope John Paul II (19th). He ranked just below Fyodor Dostoevsky (16th) and Mark Twain (15th).1 -> (1960) Betty- Actress
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Jacqueline Susann was an extraordinarily successful writer who turned her dynamic charm, chutzpah, and personality into a formidable marketing machine. Despite a less than spectacular career as an actress, singer, and playwright, she never lost confidence in herself. Blessed with sensual looks and unbounded confidence, Susann went from unknown to the best selling author of the 1960s. Her marriage to public relations/publicity guru Irving Mansfield was a a union of great advantage. Their only child, Guy, was born autistic. Despite a stormy life together, marked by her constant affairs, Mansfield was devoted to his wife. Her scandalous private life included passionate involvement with Ethel Merman, the basis for "Helen Lawson" in "Valley of the Dolls", and numerous actors and writers. After her mastectomy, she apparently ended her philandering, but became even more determined to find fame. By the time of her death, she had become one of the cultural icons of the 1960s and had set numerous publishing records.2 -> (1976) Dolores (1979) Yargo- Writer
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James M. Cain was a 'Film Noir' author. His father was a professor, and president, of 'Washington College'. His mother was an opera singer in Maryland.
James graduated from the same college in 1910, and became a writer for 'Baltimore American', then 'Baltimore Sun' [still being published] by 1914. He was drafted in 1916, and spent 1918 in France as a writer for the 'Army Times'. When released, he did writing for various publications, and by 1934, his first novel,"The Postman Always Rings Twice", was published. Of Course, a very popular movie in 1946.
With adaptations of his novels[credit only as 'story contributor'],he was much in demand in the 40's in the 'Film Noir' category. But, in 1946, he formed a 'Cain Plan' ["American Authors' Authority"]whereby The writers would have authority of copyrights, and be the representative for them in negotiations with the movie producers and court disputes. Resembling 'S.A.G.', it was opposed by an org. called, "The American Writers' Assoc.". There was a debate carried on in the 'Saturday Review'.
He was married 4 times.1 -> (1934) The Postman Always Rings Twice- Writer
- Actor
Robin Cook was born on 4 May 1940 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is a writer and actor, known for Coma (1978), Invasion (1997) and Sphinx (1981).2 -> (1979) Sphinx (1987) Outbreak- Writer
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Author, playwright and composer Ira Levin decided on a career of a writer at the age of 15. Educated at the elite Horace Mann school, he went on to two years at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, before transferring to New York University, where he majored in philosophy and English. He earned his degree in 1950. In 1953 he was drafted into the army. Based in Queens, New York, he wrote and produced training films for Uncle Sam before moving into television, penning scripts for such anthology series as Lights Out (1946) and The United States Steel Hour (1953). He made a bright theatre debut at the age of 25 with an adaptation of Mac Hyman's "No Time for Sergeants" (1955). He went on to write several plays, including the longest-running Broadway mystery to date, "Deathtrap" (1978), and several popular novels, including "A Kiss Before Dying", and other plays including "Critics Choice" and "Interlock" and the Broadway stage score and libretto for "Drat the Cat!". Joining ASCAP in 1965, he wrote the popular gospel song "He Touched Me" with his chief musical collaborator Milton Schafer.3 -> (1967) Rosemary's Baby (1991) Sliver (1997) Son of Rosemary- Favorite writer of generations of Americans, Cooper was born on Tuesday, September 15th, 1789, and grew up on his family's huge wooded settlement, in Cooperstown, New York, which his father, William Cooper, a prominent Federalist, had founded before this son's birth. His days as a Yale student were cut short when he was expelled for misbehavior. He gamely joined the navy, earning the rank of midshipman. On New Year's Day, Tuesday, January 1st, 1811 he married Susan Augusta De Lancey, settling down and writing prolifically, politically, and prodigiously. Eventually he and his wife moved south to an estate in Scarsdale, New York, where he continued to write and publish his critical, thoughtful, and creative works. Cooper died at Cooperstown on Sunday, September 14th, 1851, one day shy of reaching sixty-two.2 -> (1826) The Last of the Mohicans (1840) The Pathfinder
- Pierre Boulle was a French novelist best known for two works, The Bridge over the River Kwai (1952) and Planet of the Apes (1963), that were both made into award-winning films.
He was an engineer serving as a secret agent with the Free French in Singapore, when he was captured and subjected to two years' forced labor. He used these experiences in The Bridge over the River Kwai, about the notorious Death Railway, which became an international bestseller. David Lean made the book into a motion picture that won seven 1957 Oscars, including the Best Picture, and Best Actor for Alec Guinness. Boulle himself won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay despite not having written the screenplay and, by his own admission, not even speaking English. Boulle had been credited with the screenplay because the film's actual screenwriters, Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson, had been blacklisted as communist sympathizers. The Motion Picture Academy added Foreman's and Wilson's names to the award in 1984.
In 1963, following several other reasonably successful novels, Boulle published his other famous novel, Planet of the Apes. In 1968 the book was made into an Oscar-winning film, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and starring Charlton Heston. The screenplay, originally written by Rod Serling, focused more on action and deviated in many ways from the novel, including the addition of its own classic twist ending that was different from the novel's. It inspired four sequels, a television series, an animated series, a 2001 remake of the original title by Tim Burton, a 2011 reboot, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, followed by the sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017).
Boulle died in Paris, France on 30 January 1994, at age 81.1 -> (1963) Planet of the Apes - Philipp Vandenberg was born on 20 September 1941 in Wroclaw, Poland.11 -> (1973) Der Fluch der Pharaonen (1976) Nofretete, Echnaton und ihre Zeit (1979) Das Geheimnis der Orakel (1984) Die Hetäre (1988) Sixtinische Verschwörung (1990) Das Pharao Komplott (1993) Das fünfte Evangelium (1996) Der Fluch des Kopernikus (2001) Der König von Luxor (2003) Die Akte Golgatha (2006) Das vergessene Pergament
- Tahar Ben Jelloun was born on 1 December 1944 in Fez, Morocco. He is a writer and actor, known for Il pianto della statua (2007), La prière de l'absent (1995) and Notte senza fine (2004).3 - (1985) The Sand Child (1987) The Sacred Nicht (1990) Silent Day in Tangiers
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H. Rider Haggard was born on 22 June 1856 in Bradenham, Norfolk, England, UK. H. Rider was a writer, known for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, King Solomon's Mines (1985) and Allan Quatermain. H. Rider was married to Mariana Louisa Margitson. H. Rider died on 14 May 1925 in London, England, UK.1 -> (1885) King Solomon’s Mines- Writer
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Friedrich Dürrenmatt was born on 5 January 1921 in Konolfingen, Switzerland. He was a writer and director, known for The Pledge (2001), It Happened in Broad Daylight (1958) and Suspicion (1957). He was married to Charlotte Kerr and Lotti Geißler. He died on 14 December 1990 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland.6 -> (1951) The Judge and His Hangman (1952) Suspicion (1955) Once a Greek (1956) A Dangerous Game (1958) The Pledge (1989) Durcheinandertal- Writer
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Mika Waltari was born on 19 September 1908 in Helsinki, Finland. He was a writer and actor, known for The Apple Falls (1952), VMV 6 (1936) and Inspector Palmu's Error (1960). He was married to Marjatta Luukkonen. He died on 26 August 1979 in Helsinki, Finland.1 -> (1937) A Stranger Came to the Farm- Writer
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Mario Vargas Llosa was born on 28 March 1936 in Arequipa, Peru. He is a writer and director, known for Pantaleon (1976), Captain Pantoja and the Special Services (1999) and Tune in Tomorrow... (1990). He has been married to Patricia Llosa since 1965. He was previously married to Julia Urquidi.1 -> (1988) In Praise of the Stepmother- Sports writer, screenwriter and novelist Paul Gallico was born in 1897 in New York City. His parents were immigrants (father from Italy, mother from Austria) who emigrated to the US in 1895. He was educated in the New York City public school system, and entered Columbia University in 1916, graduating in 1921--his education was interrupted by an 18-month stint in the Army during World War I--with a B.S. degree. He soon got a job with the National Board of Motion Picture Reviews, but left after a few months to take a job as the film critic for the New York Daily News. He lost that job because his reviews were considered too "smart alecky" and he wound up in the sports department. One of his assignments was to cover the training camp of champion Jack Dempsey. Rather than just do a "puff-piece" interview with Dempsey, Gallico got a different idea--he would actually spend some sparring time with Dempsey in the ring, to get an idea of what it was like to be in the ring with the world's heavyweight champion. He soon found out--Dempsey knocked him unconscious within two minutes--but he got the story he was looking for, and his sports career took off.
In 1923 he was promoted to Sports Editor of the Daily News and received his own daily sports column. His interest in boxing resulted in his organizing the now famous Golden Gloves amateur boxing competition. He became one of the first celebrity sportswriters, but he had always harbored a desire to be a fiction writer, and had occasionally had short stories published in magazines like "Vanity Fair" and the "Saturday Eening Post". In 1936 he sold a story idea to Hollywood for $5000, which gave him the wherewithal to retire from sports writing and devote his full time to fiction writing. He moved to Europe and soon published his first major book, "Farewell to Sport"
In 1941 he had his first international best-seller, "The Snow Goose". His writing was interrupted--again--by war, and he spent the years from 1943-46 as a war correspondent. After the war he traveled around Europe and South America--he liked to personally research the locales his stories and novels were set in, and his research took him to such places as Mexico, Liechenstein, Paris and Monaco, where he eventually settled. He spent the last four years of his life in Antibes, a coastal resort area in the south of France between Cannes and Nice. He died there on July 15, 1976, less than two weeks before his 79th birthday.7 -> (1958) Flowers for Mrs. Harris (1959) Too Many Ghosts (1960) Mrs. Harris goes to New York (1962) Scruffy (1965) Mrs. Harris, M.P. (1970) Matilda (1974) Mrs. Harris goes to Moscow - Writer
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Enid Blyton (11 August 1897 - 28 November 1968) was an English author. She was born in Dulwich, South London, England. She was one of the world's most famous children's writers. She is also one of the most prolific authors of all time. This means that she wrote a great number of books. Her most famous stories are the Famous Five stories, about a group of four children (Dick, Julian, Anne, and Georgina, who wanted to be called George) and their dog (Timmy) who have many adventures, and her Noddy books for small children.
Her parents wanted her to become a concert pianist (someone who plays the piano), but Enid wanted to be a teacher. Her parents agreed to let her train as a teacher. She began teaching in 1919 in Kent, not far from where she grew up in Beckenham.
As a child and teenager her main interest had been writing poems, stories and other items. She had sent many of them to magazines but had never had any published. As she worked as a teacher she began to have her articles, about children and education printed in a magazine called Teachers' World. Her first book, called Child Whispers came out in 1922. It was a book of her poems with illustrations.
She was married soon after. She left teaching and began to have more success with her books. She wrote in and was the editor of magazine for children called Sunny Stories. The stories she wrote for this magazine were so popular that the magazine was then called Enid Blyton's Sunny Stories. The magazine came out every two weeks. Many of Enid's most famous books were first printed in this magazine in parts.
Enid Blyton has been in The Guinness Book of Records as one of the world's biggest selling writers. She is also included because she wrote more books than almost any other writer (about 700). Her books were published in many different languages. She said that she found writing them easy. In the last few years of her life she had a disease which damaged her mind, called presenile dementia. Her books still sell in large numbers, and used to be owned by her family. A few years ago her family sold them, and now her works belong to a private company.
Enid Blyton did a lot of work for charity and had a club for children which helped them to give money to charity. She was married twice and had two daughters. She died of Alzheimer's disease in Hampstead, London.21 -> (1938) The Secret Island (1940) The Secret of Spiggy Holes (1941) The Twins at St. Clare’s (1942) Five On A Treasure Island (1943) Five Go Adventuring Again (1943) Summer Term At St. Clare’s (1944) The Island of Adventure (1945) Five Go To Smuggler’s Top (1946) The Castle of Adventure (1947) Five On Kirrin Island Again (1947) The Valley of Adventure (1948) The Mystery of the Hidden House (1948) The Sea of Adventure (1949) The Mountain of Adventure (1949) The Rockingdown Mystery (1950) The Ship of Adventure (1952) The Circus of Adventure (1953) Five Go Down To The Sea (1955) The River of Adventure (1958) Five Get Into A Fix (1960) Five On Finniston Farm -> (All readings before Bertelsmann 1997)- Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 - 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, hence his common sobriquet, "Dean Swift".
Swift is remembered for works such as A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), Gulliver's Travels (1726), and A Modest Proposal (1729). He is regarded by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language, and is less well known for his poetry. He originally published all of his works under pseudonyms-such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M. B. Drapier-or anonymously. He was a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles.
His deadpan, ironic writing style, particularly in A Modest Proposal, has led to such satire being subsequently termed "Swiftian".1 -> (1726) Gulliver's Travels - Writer
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P.L. Travers was born on 9 August 1899 in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia. She was a writer, known for Mary Poppins (1964), Mary Poppins Returns (2018) and Studio One (1948). She died on 23 April 1996 in Chelsea, London, England, UK.3 -> (1934) Mary Poppins (1935) Mary Poppins Comes Back (1943) Mary Poppins Opens the Door- Writer
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Born in Manchester, England on November 24 1849, Frances Eliza Hodgson was the eldest daughter in a family of two boys and three girls. After her father's death when she was three years old, the Hodgsdons experienced severe financial difficulties. As a young girl, she would scrawl little stories on sheets of old notebooks, as she was unable to afford proper writing materials. In 1865 the family moved to Tennessee where they lived in a log cabin and the teenage Frances set up a little school. She began submitting stories to women's magazines and in a time when most women did not have careers, Frances Eliza Hodgsdon was a literary success. In 1873 she married Dr. Swan Burnett and they had two sons -- Lionel, born 1874, and Vivian, born 1876 -- but the marriage was not a happy one. Her younger son, Vivian, clamoured for something for little boys to read, so Frances wrote "Little Lord Fauntleroy" and modeled the main character after him. In 1890 tragedy struck when her eldest son, Lionel, died of influenza. Frances and Swan separated and finally divorced in 1898, and she went on to remarry Stephen Townshend. Frances moved to Long Island, New York in 1901 and there began to write her two most famous stories -- "A Little Princess" and "The Secret Garden", inspired by her poor childhood and her love for gardening. She became rather eccentric in her old age, but delighted in her grandchildren. Frances Hodgson Burnett died on 29 October 1924.1 -> (1911) The Secret Garden- Gerald Frow was a writer, known for 7 of 1 (1973), The Kids from 47A (1973) and Young Sherlock: The Mystery of the Manor House (1982). He was married to Sally Miles. He died in December 2005 in the UK.2 -> (1982) Young Sherlock The Mystery of the Manor House (1984) Young Sherlock The adventure at Ferrymenans Creek
- Charles Webb was born on 9 June 1939 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was a writer, known for The Graduate (1967), The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker (1971) and Hope Springs (2003). He was married to Eve "Fred" Rudd and Eve ("Fred") Rudd. He died on 16 June 2020 in Eastbourne, East Sussex, England, UK.1 -> (1963) The Graduate
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Leigh Douglass Brackett was born in 1915 in Los Angeles. She was the author of numerous short stories and books regarding science fiction and has been referred to as the Queen of Space Opera. Hollywood director Howard Hawks was so impressed by one of her novels that he had his secretary call in "this guy Brackett" to help William Faulkner write the script for The Big Sleep (1946). As a screenwriter, she is best known for her work in The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo (1959), and Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). She died of cancer in 1978 in Lancaster, California.1 -> (1959 - Novel about the Movie) Rio Bravo- Gordon D. Shirreffs was born in 1914 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a writer, known for Playhouse 90 (1956), I Live for Your Death (1968) and Boots and Saddles (1956). He died in 1996.1 -> (1956) Rio Bravo
- Terry Southern began writing satirical, outrageous fiction at the age of 12, when he took it upon himself to rewrite various Edgar Allan Poe stories "because they didn't go far enough". After serving as a lieutenant in the army in World War II, he began writing short stories in earnest while studying at the Sorbonne. "The Accident", published in the premier issue of The Paris Review, was the first short story to appear in that magazine. According to Peter Matthiessen, "The Sun and the Stillborn Stars", also by Terry, determined the course of The Paris Review as a venue for short fiction. He admired and befriended influential British novelist Henry Green, who convinced Andre Deutsch to publish his first novel, "Flash and Filigree" (1958). Residing with his first wife Carol in Geneva, he spent days conjuring surrealistic exploits for billionaire trickster Guy Grand in "The Magic Christian" (1958) while at the same time writing Candy (1958) for Maurice Girodias' Olympia Press. He and Gregory Corso presented William Burroughs' beat masterwork "Naked Lunch" to Girodias, convincing him to publish it. Terry published numerous short stories in England, France and America, (anthologized in "Red Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes"), and co-edited "Writers in Revolt; an Anthology of the Most Controversial Writing in the World Today" (1962) with Alex Trocchi and Richard Seaver.
After settling in an old farmhouse in Connecticut, Terry began contributing regularly to Esquire Magazine. One of his assignments was to interview director Stanley Kubrick, who subsequently invited him to employ his satirical skills on the "Dr. Strangelove" screenplay (1964). A rewarding period in Hollywood followed, including screenplays for the films The Loved One (1965), The Collector (1965), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), Casino Royale (1967) and Barbarella (1968). Terry helped inaugurate the independent film movement by co-authoring Easy Rider (1969) and writing and co-producing The End of the Road (1976) with his old Paris/Greenwich Village hipster soulmate Aram Avakian - filmed entirely on-location in the Berkshires with Actors Studio cast and a non-union crew (including James Earl Jones, Stacy Keach and Gordon Willis). After the publication of the novel "Blue Movie" (1970), he turned to screenwriting full-time, working on original scripts, adaptations and speculative assignments throughout the 70s and 80s.
During this difficult period, when films and "quality-lit" (a phrase he coined) moved from character-driven stories to action-packed blockbuster, the IRS repeatedly attempted to reclaim over $150,000 in unpaid taxes owed from the mid-sixties. He was hired in the early-eighties by Michael O'Donoghue to write for Saturday Night Live (1975), and wrote "The Telephone" (1986) with singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson. With legitimate film work increasingly elusive, Terry taught Screenwriting at both NYU and Columbia University from the late 80s until his death in 1995. His last novel, "Texas Summer", was released by Arcade Books in 1992. His novels "The Magic Christian", "Flash and Filigree", "Blue Movie" and "Candy" are available through Grove Atlantic. A new collection, "Now Dig This; The Unspeakable Writings of Terry Southern 1950-1995" was released by Grove in 2001, as was Terry's biography by Lee Hill, "A Grand Guy, the Art and Life of Terry Southern" (Harper Collins).1 -> (1958) Candy - Asta Scheib was born on 27 July 1939 in Bergrheinfeld, Germany. She is a writer, known for Tatort (1970), Forsthaus Falkenau (1989) and Fear of Fear (1975).1 -> (1985) Kinder des Ungehorsams
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Kathleen McGowan was born in Hollywood, California into a family with strong television and film ties. Her grandmother was a pioneer in communications at NBC and her mother worked as a publicist. Her own career in entertainment began when she was a union liaison for Universal Studios in the 1980s. In 1991, she went to work for The Walt Disney Company where she stayed until 1996.
Ms McGowan optioned several feature film scripts before shifting her writing skills to fiction. In 2006, her first novel, The Expected One, became an instant international bestseller and the sequels, The Book of Love and The Poet Prince, followed suit in 2008 and 2009. A series based on this fiction trilogy is in the works. Her non-fiction book, The Source of Miracles, was on Oprah's Holiday List in 2010.
Ms McGowan began working in television on multiple History Channel properties in 2011 and has contributed and appeared on over forty episodes across seven shows as an authority on history and folklore. She is known as one of the world's leading experts on the life of Mary Magdalene, and has studied her and related subjects of women in history and spirituality on four continents over 25 years.
She is the mother of actor Shane Francis Smith.3 -> (2006) The Expected One (2009) The Book of Love (2010) The Poet Prince- Writer
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Peter Soyer Beagle was born in 1939 in the Bronx. He is arguably America's greatest living fantasist and has written novels, nonfiction, poetry, opera librettos, songs, and screenplays. He is also a talented guitarist and folk singer. As a child he was a voracious reader and appeared regularly on a New York City radio program in which young people presented book reviews. He wrote his first novel, A Fine and Private Place, when he was still only 19 years old and a student at the University of Pittsburgh. After graduation he spent most of a year in France and Italy, then returned to America when he was invited to participate in a special seminar program for young writers at Stanford University. Two other participants in the program were Larry McMurtry and Ken Kesey.
Today, Beagle is best known as the author of The Last Unicorn, which routinely polls as one of the top ten fantasy novels of all time. At least two of his other books A Fine and Private Place and I See By My Outfit are considered modern classics.
He wrote the teleplay for episode 71 of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, titled "Sarek." He also wrote the screenplay for the 1978 Ralph Bakshi-animated version of The Lord Of The Rings, the film which first inspired a teen-aged Peter Jackson to read J.R.R. Tolkien's original trilogy.
His work as a screenwriter interrupted his early career direction as a novelist and short-story writer. But in the mid-90s he returned to prose fiction of all lengths, and has produced new works at a steady pace since.
In 2005 he finally published a coda to The Last Unicorn, a novelette entitled "Two Hearts," and began work on a full-novel sequel.
Peter S. Beagle now lives in Oakland, California.2 -> (1968) The Last Unicorn (1996) The Unicorn Sonata- Paul Willems was born on 4 April 1912 in Edegem, Flanders, Belgium. Paul was a writer, known for Il pleut dans ma maison (1969), Of und der Mond (1956) and Das Echo (1963). Paul died on 29 November 1997 in Zoersel, Flanders, Belgium.1 -> (1949) Chronicle of the Swan
- Colin Dann was born on 10 March 1943 in Richmond, Surrey, England, UK. Colin is a writer, known for The Animals of Farthing Wood (1996), The Animals of Farthing Wood (1993) and Journey Home: The Animals of Farthing Wood (1996).1 -> (1979) The Animals of Farthing Wood
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New York Times Best Selling Author, screenwriter, and actor. Novels: The New York Times Best Seller "The Second Son", which had an unprecedented 1.2 million copy first printing, and his newest novel "The Man Who Rode the Tiger." Charles Sailor is the author of more than forty scripts for television programs, including "Charlie's Angels," "Kojak," "Rockford Files," "Switch," "Chips," "Bronk," "Get Christi Love," and television pilots including "The Bureau", and "Nu Deli"; and scripts for television films, including "The Devils of Hell Week," "Shock Team", "Death With Total Security", and "The Hostage Heart." He has also been credited under the pseudonym Alexander Stewart.
Worked as actor in motion pictures, stage productions and television programs, including "Return To Peyton Place", "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About But Were Afraid to Ask," "Medical Center," "General Hospital," Blue Knight," and "Katherine" Member: Writers Guild of American West, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Screen Actors Guild.1 -> (1979) The Second Son- Nero had become emperor in 54 A.D., and his interest in theater and luxury led him to appoint a courtier named Petronius (praenomen probably Titus or possibly Gaius) as his Arbiter elegantiae or judge of elegance. Described as a man who "made luxury a fine art" and "who spent his days sleeping and his nights working and enjoying himself" by Tacitus, Petronius dictated the fashion and art at the Imperial court. There he composed his masterwork, the satirical "The Satyricon", probably in 61 A.D. Nero was capricious, however, and his favor was uncertain; the jealousy of a rival led to Petronius' downfall. He fled to Cumae before Nero's cronies caught up with him. There he wrote out a full description of the emperor's many debaucheries and crimes, entertained his friends, and broke his signet ring to avoid its being used to endanger others. Petronius then opened his veins and bled to death in 66 A.D., escaping Nero through suicide. His most famous work, "The Satyricon" was not published until 1664.1 -> (-0061) Satyricon
- Thomas Nashe was born in 1567 in Lowestoft, Suffolk, England [now UK]. He was a writer, known for In Time of Pestilence (1951). He died in 1601.1 -> (1594) The Unfortunate Traveller