Meny
  • It is 117 years today since Leslie Charteris was born.

    Leslie Charteris was born in colonial Singapore as Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin. His father, Suat Chuan Yin, was a wealthy physician and company manager who claimed he was related to an ancient Chinese imperial family. Charteris' mother, Lydia Florence Bowyer, was English. Young Leslie was educated at home and on the many journeys he made with his parents; he claimed to have toured the world three...

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  • It is 60 years today since Ferdinand von Schirach was born.

    Ferdinand von Schirach is a German lawyer and author born in Munich to a wealthy Protestant family. He grew up in Munich and Trossingen. When he was ten years old, he was enrolled at the St. Blasien Catholic boarding school where he passed his baccalaureate in 1984. Von Schirach later reported that these formative years had made it hard for him to believe in God.
    Von Schirach followed the...

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Sample of Authors

Portrait of Gisa Klönne

Klönne, Gisa
1964 -

The German author Gisa Klönne was born in Stuttgart and grew up in Darmstadt. She wanted to become an author from an early ...

Further reading
Portrait image of Denise Mina

Mina, Denise
1966 -

Denise Mina is a Scottish lawyer and author of crime novels. She was born in East Kilbride, Glasgow. Her father was an oil...

Further reading
Portrait of Kate Atkinson

Atkinson, Kate
1951 -

The British author Kate Atkinson was born in York, her father was a shopkeeper. She read English literature at Dundee...

Further reading
Portrait of Jo Spain

Spain, Jo
1979 -

The Irish author Joanne ‘Jo’ Spain was born into a working-class family in the little notorious residential district of Bel...

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