Meny
  • It is 72 years today since Orhan Pamuk was born.

    Turkish author, born and grew up in Istanbul, Nisantasi, in an affluent middle-class family. The father was a civil engineer, as was Orhan’s grandfather, who laid the foundations for the family’s fortune. After graduating from school – the secular American Robert College – Pamuk studied Architecture and Journalism. Until he was 22, he devoted himself to painting and dreamt of becoming an artist. T...

    Further reading

  • It is 67 years today since Fred Vargas was born.

    Fred Vargas is a pseudonym used by the French historian, archaeologist and crime writer Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau. "Vargas" was a character played by Ava Gardener in The Barefoot Contessa; the name was first used by Audoin-Rouzeau’s twin sister Joëlle, the visual artist Jo Vargas. Their father, Philippe Audoin-Rouzeau, was a journalist and a famous figure in surrealist circles. He was very part...

    Further reading

  • It is 158 years today since E.W. Hornung was born.

    The English teacher and journalist Ernest William Hornung (Willie to his family) was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s brother-in-law. If Sir Arthur was the father of Sherlock Holmes, the most famous fictional detective in the world, you could say that Hornung created the most famous crook, the gentleman thief A.J. Raffles. Like Holmes, Raffles has occasionally turned up in books by other authors.
    H...

    Further reading

Sample of Authors

Portrait image of Thomas Keneally

Keneally, Thomas
1935 -

The novelist and non-fiction writer Thomas ‘Tom’ Keneally descends from a family of Irish prisoners that were deported to Aus...

Further reading
Portrait of Elizabeth Haynes

Haynes, Elizabeth
1971 -

Elizabeth Haynes is a British author of crime fiction. She grew up in Seaford, Sussex and read English, German and Art...

Further reading
Portrait image of Richard Osman

Osman, Richard
1970 -

Richard Osman is an English comedian, TV-personality and programme presenter who made his international writing...

Further reading
Portrait image of Ira Levin

Levin, Ira
1929 - 2007

The American novelist, playwright and scriptwriter Ira Levin was born in Bronx in New York; he was the only child in the...

Further reading