Photo: Dermot Cleary
Sample of authors
Leonard, Elmore
The American author Elmore John Leonard, Jr. was born in New Orleans, but because his father worked for the automobile industry, the family often moved homes. They lived in Dallas, Oklahoma City and Memphis before finally settling in Detroit in 1934. Leonard graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School in 1943, after which he did his military service in the Navy and was sent to...
Photo: David Shankbone (2009) CC BY 3.0
Sample of authors
Vidal, Gore
The American novelist and essayist Gore Vidal was born at West Point, New York. He was originally christened Eugene Vidal, but in his teens he changed his first name to his maternal grandfather’s surname. Gore Vidal was the only child of the pilot Eugene Luther Vidal and his wife, Nina S. Gore, an actress. He was not close to either. His parents were divorced when Vidal was ten, and although he m...