November : A Month of Birthdays

It’s a month of birthdays! We’re celebrating a number of our favourite authors along with the brilliant stories they created.

Lucy Maud Montgomery 

Born:  30th November 1874.

Died:  24th April 1942

“We ought always try to influence others for good.”

Nationality: Canadian. 

Known For: Anne of Green Gables.

Her family were less than supportive and considered writing a waste of time, however Montgomery ran the post office and was able to submit work to publishers in secret. 

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Born: 24th November 1849.

Died: 29th October 1924.

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.”

Nationality: English. 

Known For: The Secret Garden. 

The Secret Garden was based on the beautiful garden at Great Maytham Hall, where she lived for ten years. 

Louisa May Alcott

Born: 29th November 1832

Died: 6th March 1888

“I could have been a great many things.”

Nationality: American

Known For: Little Women

During her time as a Civil War nurse she contracted typhoid fever and pneumonia, which was treated with calomel, and led to her suffering from mercury poisoning until she died at age 55. 

Bram Stoker

Born: 8th November 1847

Died: 20th April 1912

“There are darknesses in life and there are lights, you are one of the lights.”

Nationality: Irish

Known For: Dracula

Stoker worked a business manager to the great actor Henry Irving. Upon their first meeting, Irving recited a spine-chilling rendition of Thomas Hood’s verse horror story The Dream of Eugene Aram. 

C.S Lewis

Born: 29th November 1898

Died: 22nd November 1963

“Courage, dear heart.”

Nationality: Irish

Known For: The Chronicles of Narnia. 

Following on from a successful career as a Tutor of English Literature at Oxford University, C.S Lewis was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University in 1954, a position he held until his retirement.