Classic Author Focus: Margaret Oliphant

Margaret Oliphant Margaret Oliphant was a prolific Scottish writer who is best known for her domestic realism novels, although she also wrote historical novels and tales of the supernatural. She led a very sad life. She wrote under the name of "Mrs. Oliphant." The daughter of a clerk, Oliphant began writing at an early age …

Classic Author Focus: Johanna Spyri

Johanna Spyri Johanna Spyri was a Swiss author who is primarily known for writing the beloved children's classic, Heidi. Not much is known about Spyri's life except that she was born in a canton of Zurich named Hirzel and spent most of her life in that area. The setting she used for her novels was …

Classic Author Focus: Katherine Mansfield

Katherine Mansfield Katherine Mansfield was a New Zealand author who was considered a master of the short story form and one of the most influential and important Modernist authors. Her works explored anxiety, existentialism, and sexuality, and eventually developed a New Zealand identity. Mansfield was born in Thornton near Wellington to a socially prominent family. …

Classic Author Focus: Nikos Kazantzakis

Nikos Kazantzakis Nikos Kazantzakis was a Greek writer who was born in Heraklion, Crete, when it was claimed by the Ottoman Empire. At the time, Crete was revolting against the Ottomans, so Kazantzakis's parents had to flee with him for a while to the island of Naxos. Not much information is available about his younger …

Classic Author Focus: Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley It should be obvious why I picked Mary Shelley for my focus post this month, as her most famous work is the Gothic horror novel, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, so, totally appropriate for October. Mary Shelley was an English novelist who had a rather exciting life for an early 19th century woman …

Classic Author Focus: Miles Franklin

Miles Franklin Miles Franklin was an Australian writer and feminist who was determined to develop a uniquely Australian form of literature and whose success is measured by the Stella prize for the best Australian literature by a woman, established by her estate and named in her honor. (Her full name was Stella Maria Sarah Miles …

Classic Author Focus: Sir Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott was a Scottish novelist, playwright, translator, historian, and poet but also an advocate, judge, and legal administrator. He is primarily known for being the inventor of historical fiction and one of its greatest practitioners. When only a few years old, Scott survived a bout of polio that left him …

Classic Author Focus: Nellie Campobello

Nellie Campobello Nellie Campobello was a Mexican writer, ballet dancer, and choreographer. Her best known work is Carthucho, the only work by a woman novelist to document the Mexican Revolution. She was also a founder of the Mexico City Ballet and a director of the Mexican National School of Dance. The biographical articles I could …

Classic Author Focus: Isak Dinesen

Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) Isak Dinesen is the nom de plume of Danish writer Karen Blixen. She is best known for her memoir Out of Africa, about the years when she farmed a coffee plantation in Kenya, but she was mostly a short story writer and poet. Although Dinesen's family was among the Danish upper …

Classic Author Focus: Frans G. Bengtsson

Frans G. Bengtsson I wanted to write about Frans G. Bengtsson, because I so much enjoyed reading his book The Long Ships, an unexpectedly exuberant and funny novel about a Viking. However, this will be a short post, because there's not much information available online about him. Bengtsson was a Swedish novelist, essayist, poet, translator, …

Classic Author Focus: Flora Nwapa

Flora Nwapa Flora Nwapa has been called the mother of Nigerian writing, and she was the first African woman novelist to be published in English in Britain. She is best known for recreating the life and customs of the Igbo from a woman's viewpoint. She also worked with orphans and refugees who were displaced after …

Classic Author Focus: Jane Porter

Jane Porter Jane Porter is known as one of the earliest historical novelists. She is best known for The Scottish Chiefs, about William Wallace, which is still popular with British children, and her work was highly regarded by Walter Scott. Porter was born in Durham, England, but after her father's death, the family moved to …

Classic Author Focus: Sun Tzu

Statue of Sun Tzu Probably the most interesting thing about Sun Tzu is that it is not even known whether he actually existed. Although he is famous for having written The Art of War, in recent years, some historians have begun to wonder if he wasn't a made-up descriptor. That is because he isn't mentioned …

Classic Author Focus: Dorothy B. Hughes

Dorothy B. Hughes I decided to write about Dorothy B. Hughes after reading her noir suspense novel In a Lonely Place. It is an excellent, dark novel that was made into a movie starring Humphrey Bogart in 1950, in which unfortunately they changed the ending. Sadly, Hughes's life wasn't as exciting as her novels. She …

Classic Author Focus: Kamala Markandaya

Kamala Markayanda One of the difficulties I've found with trying to introduce more female writers from cultures other than European is that once I've identified some of them, I can't find out anything about them. A classic example is Kamala Markandaya, who is cited as one of the best-known Indian authors. Yet, on all the …

Classic Author Focus: Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri A 13th and 14th century poet and philosopher, Dante Alighieri is, of course, known for his famous poem The Divine Comedy. His literary achievements go further than that, though, for before his time, poetry in Italy was written in Latin. His writings were in the vernacular Italian, making them accessible to more than …