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...

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  • 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...

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  • 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...

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Sample of Authors

Portrait of Mo Hayder

Hayder, Mo
1962 - 2021

The British thriller writer Mo Hayder, pen name for Clare Dunkel, grew up in Essex. She revolted against her academic...

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Portrait image of Tom Clancy

Clancy, Tom
1947 - 2013

The American novelist Thomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. was born in Baltimore. His father worked for the United States Postal...

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Portrait image of John Fowles

Fowles, John
1926 - 2005

John Robert Fowles was born in a middle-class family in the Essex town of Leigh-on-Sea. His father, Robert Fowles, dreamt...

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Portrait image of Jan Guillou

Guillou, Jan
1944 -

Swedish author and journalist, who was born in Södertälje and grew up in Saltsjöbaden. Jan Guillou, who has French ancestry (...

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