Photo: Ola Erikson / Forflex
Sample of authors
Eco, Umberto
Umberto Eco was an Italian author, literary scholar, historian and philosopher born in Alessandria in Piedmont. His surname may refer to the fact that his grandfather was a foundling at a time when children were sometimes registered in church records as "Ex Caelis Oblatus", which can be translated as "offered by the heavens".
His father was a clerk and his mother’s maiden name was Giovanna B...
Photo: Peter Peitsch (1986) / www.peitschphoto.com
Sample of authors
Highsmith, Patricia
Patricia Highsmith was an American author born in Fort Worth, Texas, as Mary Patricia Plangman. Both parents were artists who worked with illustrations and advertising. They separated before Highsmith was born, and her mother married Stanley Highsmith in 1924. The family moved to New York in 1927, a sad period for Highsmith. Her relationship with her mother was fraught and she did not get on...