The most significant events in the history of books on the 18th of December 1870: Saki is born Hector Hugh Munro. He enlisted after the outbreak of WWI, though he probably could have avoided service altogether. He became a successful writer of very short stories such as ‘The Lumber Room’ and […]
Tag: Author Birthdays
December 17 in Literary History: Ford Madox Ford Born
The most significant events in the history of books on the 17th of December 1273: Rumi dies. Rumi (1207-1273), born Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, was a Sufi mystic poet from Persia. Rumi was a Muslim follower of the Sufi faith, and he wrote numerous works of Sufi philosophy as well as […]
December 16 in Literary History: Jane Austen Born
The most significant events in the history of books on the 16th of December 1775: Jane Austen is born. As well as Pride and Prejudice and the five other full-length novels she completed, Austen also wrote a number of other interesting works of fiction (and non-fiction, of a sort): she wrote a History of England while […]
December 15 in Literary History: Arthur Machen Dies
The most significant events in the history of books on the 15th of December 1683: Izaak Walton dies. He was a biographer who wrote about the lives of a number of key seventeenth-century poets, including the Metaphysical Poets John Donne and George Herbert. However, it is for his 1653 book The […]
December 14 in Literary History: Shirley Jackson Born
The most significant events in the history of books on the 14th of December 1640: Aphra Behn is (possibly) born. Few details about Behn’s early life are known for sure, but it’s possible that she was the ‘Eaffrey Johnson’ who was born in Harbledown in Kent, on December 14 1640. […]