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Frederick Marryat - English Novelist (1792-1848)
His stories portray seafaring life, based primarily on his own experiences during more than two decades of service and command in the English Navy. He entered the Royal Navy at age fourteen and retired as a Captain. Late in his life he also authored well-regarded children's books.
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Christian Fürchtegott Gellert - German Poet (1715-1769)
He was the son of a minister, raised in a poor and extremely religious family. His middle name means 'god-fearing'. He wrote widely read moralistic fables, stories and novels, as well as religious poems and hymns, and also comedies. He was a professor at the University of Leipzig.
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Jules Verne - French Writer (1828-1905)
He is considered by many to be the father of modern science fiction writing. His imaginative stories often contained visions of technological marvels that only many years later came to be. His work has always been popular with young readers. Verne was also a successful writer for the theater. Among his most famous books are 'Journey to the Center of the Earth', 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea', 'Around the World in Eighty Days', and 'From the Earth to the Moon'.
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Victor Hugo - French Writer (1802-1885)
His early writing established him as the leading and most influential author and of the Romantic Movement in French literature. He was an accomplished novelist, poet and playwright, often focused on the plight of the lower classes. Hugo entered the political arena as an elected member of the Assembly but was banished from France in 1851 by Napoleon III. He returned to France in 1870 and again held political office until the turmoil of the Paris Commune in March, 1871.
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Leo Tolstoy - Russian Author (1828-1910)
Formally, Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoi. Born to a wealthy and noble family, he eventually grew discontented, embraced the ideals of simplicity, faith, love and human brotherhood, and despised the man-made institutions of government and church. Wrote numerous novels, plays, short stories and essays. Best known for his character studies and portrayals of 19th Century Russian life. Late in life he gave up material possessions, choosing to live as a peasant and monastic.
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Edgar Allan Poe - American Poet and Writer (1809-1849)
He is regarded as the originator of detective fiction and gothic horror tales and is considered to be one of the most important American authors of the 19th Century. He had a difficult childhood, raised by foster parents. He joined the military as a young man, was dismissed for disobedience, and during his career suffered through periods of extreme poverty, despondence and alcoholism. He also wrote as a critic for various newspapers and journals, often quarrelling with other contemporary writers.
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Edgar Wilson Nye - American Writer (1850-1896)
Popularly known as Bill Nye, he was born in Maine and at age twenty-six moved to Wyoming Territory in what was then the American western frontier. In Laramie he served as postmaster and justice of the peace, and founded, edited, and wrote for the Laramie Boomerang. His writings were collected into several successful books. A noted American humorist and lecturer of the late 1800s, he often appeared along with James Whitcomb Riley, the 'Hoosier Poet'.
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Mark Twain - American Author (1835-1910)
He was born Samuel Clemens in Missouri and as a youth worked many odd jobs including as an apprentice riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River. Much of his writing portrayed life in the 19th Century American frontier. He worked as a journalist for many frontier newspapers through which his writing and humor became popularly known. He was struck by financial failure in 1894, after which his writing became notably more pessimistic.
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Walt Whitman - American Poet (1819-1892)
He was a teacher, printer, journalist, and newspaper editor, but is most reknowned as one of America's greatest poets. His most famous work, 'Leaves of Grass', was first issued in 1855. Whitman had to publish the book at his own expense, setting some of the type himself. His poetic style was untraditional and his work reflected his beliefs in the worth of the individual and oneness of all humanity. He strongly influenced American thought and literature, and his work has been translated into every major language.
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Richard Blackmore - English Novelist (1825-1900 )
He was schooled at Oxford and trained as a lawyer, though he abandoned his legal career because of ill health. He also taught classical literature, but achieved his reputation primarily as an author. His most reknowned work was 'Lorna Doon', a romantic novel about the infamous 17th-century outlaw of Exmoor in England. He also wrote thirteen other novels and several volumes of poetry.
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