Jean Webster
Jean Webster was the pen name of Alice Jane Chandler Webster (1876–1916). She was an author best-known for her books Daddy- Long-Legs and Dear Enemy. Several of her books have female characters who grow up to deal with the social issues of the time and are written in a sprightly and entertaining tone. A successful author in her lifetime, she was also involved with social issues such as reforms for orphanages, promoting adoption, women’s education and the right to vote for women.
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens was born in 1812 near Portsmouth where his father was a clerk in the navy pay office. The family moved to London in 1823, but their fortunes were severely impaired. Dickens was sent to work in a blacking-warehouse when his father was imprisoned for debt. Both experiences deeply affected the future novelist. In 1833 he began contributing stories to newspapers and magazines, and in 1836 started the serial publication of Pickwick Papers. Thereafter, Dickens published his major novels over the course of the next twenty years, from Nicholas Nickleby to Little Dorrit. He also edited the journals Household Words and All the Year Round. Dickens died in June 1870.
Antoine De Saint-exupÉry
Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint- Exupéry (1900–1944), was a French aristocrat who was known as a pioneering aviator and writer. He is best known for his novella The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) and for his memoir Wind, Sand and Stars. He received several of France’s highest literary awards and the United States National Book Award. His plane went missing over the Mediterranean Sea in July 1944. He is believed to have passed away at that time.
Sir James Matthew Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860–1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, who is known for works such as The Admirable Crichton and The Little White Bird. He moved to London, where he met the Llewelyn Davies boys, who inspired him to write Peter Pan. Barrie unofficially adopted the Davies boys after their parents passed away. Before his death, Barrie gave the rights to the book and play versions of Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London.
Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame (1859–1932) was a Scottish writer, best-known for The Wind in the Willows (1908), which is considered one of the classics of children s literature. He worked at the Bank of England from 1879 to 1908 and told bedtime stories to his son Alastair, which later became his most famous book. His epitaph reads, To the beautiful memory of Kenneth Grahame, husband of Elspeth and father of Alastair, who passed the river on the 6th of July, 1932, leaving childhood and literature through him the more blest for all time.
Lyman Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum (1856 –1919) was an American writer, best-known for his work The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 13 sequels which describe fantastical characters and situations in the magical land of Oz. He had a passion for the theatre and was keen to see his work converted to the stage or as film adaptations. This came true with the 1939 film version of his book. He wrote many other novels, short stories and scripts, some of which depict gadgets such as television, mobile phones and computers, much before they were invented.
Olga Perovskaya
Olga Perovskaya (1902–1961) was a children’s writer in the erstwhile Soviet Union. She is best known for her book Kids and Cubs (Rebyata i Zveryata) based on her childhood in Kazakhstan. Kids and Cubs is popular around the world and has been translated into several languages. During the Great Purge, she was arrested and sent to prison for 10 years but was later released and sent into exile.
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731) was an English writer and journalist who wrote on many topics and is most renowned for his novel Robinson Crusoe. He was often in debt and in trouble with the law, but is remembered as a forthright thinker, for his writings on politics, economics and social issues, as well as a populariser of the novel.
Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898) who was an English mathematician, photographer and Anglican deacon. He is best known for his children’s fiction, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass.
Jean Webster
,Charles Dickens
,Antoine De Saint-exupÉry
,Sir James Matthew Barrie
,Kenneth Grahame
,Lyman Frank Baum
,Olga Perovskaya
,Daniel Defoe
,Lewis Carroll
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