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It is 152 years today since Bertrand Russell was born.
The British philosopher and author Bertrand Arthur William Russel was born in Trelleck, Monmouthshire, Wales, to an aristocratic family that included the former Prime Minister Lord John Russell. His parents were liberal and advocated, among other things, the emancipation of women. Although his godfather was John Stuart Mill, the boy was brought up by his Presbyterian grandmother after he was...
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It is 80 years today since W.G. Sebald was born.
Winfried Georg (W.G.) Sebald was born near the end of the Second World War in the Bavarian mountain village of Wertach where his mother had moved to get away from the bombing of the town of Bamberg. His parents, Rosa and Georg, had three children. His father, an officer of the Wehrmacht who had participated in the invasion of Poland, was a prisoner of war until 1947, but mentioning the war was...
Sample of Authors
Myrdal, Jan
1927 - 2020
Swedish author, born in Stockholm to Gunnar and Alva Myrdal, both social democratic cabinet ministers, Nobel Prize winners...
Further reading
Voltaire
1694 - 1778
French author, the son of a notary, born as François-Marie Arouet in Paris. When he was ten years old, he was admitted to ...
Further reading
Mahfouz, Naguib
1911 - 2006
Naguib Mahfouz was born in Cairo as the youngest child of five boys and two girls. His family was of Muslim middle-class...
Further reading
Banville, John
1945 -
John Banville is one of Ireland’s best known and most prize-winning authors. He was awarded the Booker Prize in 2005, the K...
Further reading