Anniversaries, 5 April
Hugo Claus
Belgian author. His father worked at a printing office and his mother was a housewife. When a new baby was on its way, his mother did not have the strength to take care of him any more. One and a half year old, Hugo Claus was sent to a monastery boarding school. He had to remain there until he was eleven. His stay would influence him significantly. He himself has said that it was at this time that he began developing his imagination as a way of struggling against loneliness and against his...
Anniversaries, 5 April
Robert Bloch
Robert Albert Bloch was born in Chicago. He moved with his family to Milwaukee in Wisconsin when he was ten years old. His mother was a social worker and his father worked in a bank. Bloch was a great admirer of H.P. Lovecraft; he had discovered Weird Tales, which included Lovecraft’s stories, when he was a teenager. Bloch eventually dared to write to Lovecraft, who replied to his letters, and over a period of several years Lovecraft was his literary mentor. Bloch married Marion Ruth Holcombe i...
Anniversaries, 5 April
Caitlin Moran
Catherine Elisabeth Moran is a British columnist, critic, novelist and stand-up comedian born in Wolverhampton, the oldest of eight siblings. She soon renamed herself Caitlin after a character in one of the many books she read as a child. The family scraped by on her father's disability pension during the height of the Thatcher era, always in fear of more cuts to the benefit system.
Moran was taken out of school when she was eleven as she was supposed to be taught at home, but it never really...
Foto: Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images (2006)
Sample of authors
Wambaugh, Joseph
Joseph Aloysius Wambaugh, Jr. is an American author and former detective sergeant. He is best known for his police procedural novels in which he skilfully combines fact and fiction. Most of his books are based on more or less real cases as well as his own experience as a police officer and detective. Wambaugh has also published best-selling non-fiction books about murder investigations, many of...