Photo: Hulton Deutsch/Corbis Historical via Getty Images (1949)
Sample of authors
Blackwood, Algernon
British writer Algernon Blackwood was born in the South East London district of Shooter’s Hill. In 1871 his family relocated to nearby Crayford. Both parents were stout Calvinists. In his teens, Blackwood broke away from their faith and embraced Buddhist teachings, thus forming a life-long penchant for oriental mysticism, occultism and theosophy. He studied at Wellington College in Berkshire a...
Ian Rankin and Maj Sjöwall Photo: Ola Erikson / Forflex
Sample of authors
Rankin, Ian
The Scottish crime writer Ian James Rankin was born in the coal mining town of Cardenden, Fife, where his father owned a grocery store. His mother worked in a school canteen. There were few books at home, and Rankin began to visit his local library as a child and began to write short stories as a teenager. He attended Denend Primary School in Cardendan and later Auchterderran Junior High at...