Celebrate these author's birthdays by reading some of their works this year and expand your literary horizon.
(1660-1731)
Daniel Defoe
This year marks the 350th anniversary of this prolific writer’s birthday.
Daniel Defoe produced some 560 books, pamphlets and journals before publishing Robinson Crusoe in 1719. The next five years saw the appearance of his most important works of fiction, which included Moll Flanders and Roxanna.
Nobody is sure on what day or even which month Defoe’s birthday falls.
James Boswell (1740-1795)
October sees the 270th anniversary of this noted biographer’s birthday.
Boswell toured the Hebrides with Dr Johnson in 1773, leading to Boswell’s Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides, which appeared in 1785. His Life of Samuel Johnson, the most celebrated biography in the English language, followed in 1791.
Boswell’s birthday is October 29.
Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865)
Bicentenary of Elizabeth Gaskell’s birthday.
Elizabeth Gaskell wrote her first novel, Mary Barton, while grieving for the death of her infant son. It won the attention of Dickens, and more novels followed, including Cranford, which has always remained a favorite with many readers.
Celebrate this author’s birthday on September 29.
Anne Brontë (1820-1849)
The 190th anniversary of the youngest Brontë’sbirthday.
The youngest sister of Charlotte and Emily, her famous novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall appeared in 1848.
Her birthday falls on January 17.
Emile Zola (1840-1902)
The 170th anniversary of Zola’s birthday this year.
The first volume of Zola’s principal work, Les Rougon-Macquart, appeared in 1871. Nineteen more volumes followed, including Germinal and Le Docteur Pascal.
Zola’s birthday is celebrated on April 2.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
2010 is the 160th anniversary of the birthday of the Treasure Island creator.
Treasure Island, Stevenson’s first novel, brought him fame, which increased with the publication of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. This was followed by Kidnapped and its sequel Catriona.
Celebrate Robert Louis Stevenson’s birthday on November 15.
Sir JM Barrie (1860-1937)
2010 marks the 150th birthday of Peter Pan’s creator.
Sir James Matthew Barrie’s internationally and abidingly famous play, Peter Pan, grew from stories he had made up for the five children of some friends, and was first performed in 1904.
His birthday falls on May 9.
Boris Pasternak (1890-1960)
The 120th anniversary of this oppressed writer’s birthday.
This author’s chief ambition was for publication of the work he intended to be witness to the experience of the Russian intelligentsia in the Soviet Union, Dr Zhivago. Barred from publication in the USSR, Pasternak allowed publication in Italy, where it appeared in 1957.
His birthday is celebrated on February 10.
Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938)
The 110th anniversary of this short-lived author’s birthday in October.
Wolfe achieved attention with his autobiographical novel Look Homeward, Angel. This was followed by a sequel, Of Time and the River, and various posthumous works, including The Web and the Rock and You Can’t Go Home Again.
Wolfe’s birthday is on October 3.
Other authors who celebrate birthday anniversaries are Guy de Maupassant, Ted Hughes and Saki.
Peter John Shearing - I live in London and act as a consultant to a group of property investors compiling reports on international locations. This entails ...
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