(1820-1878) Nobody knew much about the writer. The book Black Beauty came to the bookshops in 1877. It was the only book she wrote. She was 57 years old, and was often ill. An accident as a child had left her unable to walk without help. She never saw the great success of her book.In Anna Sewell's time there were no cars, no motor buses and no motor vans or trucks. There were railway trains between towns, but in town or in the country you walked, or used the horse. The horse carried you as a rider, or pulle

(1832-1898) Lewis Carroll (Latinized pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.), was a church deacon and mathematician. He published Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1865 and its sequel, Through the Looking Glass in 1871. Originally conceived as nursery tales for the daughter of family friends, they quickly became classics of children's literature. Carroll published several other nonsense works, including The Hunting of the Snark (1876), Sylvie and Bruno (1889), and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded (1893). He als

(1805-1875) Andersen's fame rests on his Fairy Tales and Stories, written between 1835 and 1872. Tales, Told for Children, appeared in a small, cheap booklet in 1835. In this and following early collections, which were published in every Christmas. The third volume, published in 1837, contained 'The Little Mermaid' and 'The Emperor´s New Clothes.' Among Andersen's other best known tales are 'Little Ugly Duckling,' 'The Tinderbox,' 'Little Claus and Big Claus,' 'Princess and the Pea,' 'The Snow Queen,''The N

Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm (1785-1863) & Wilhelm Carl Grimm (1786-1859) They were German folklorists and philologists. They spent most of their lives in literary research as librarians and professors at the Universities of Gottingen and Berlin. They are most famous for Kinder- und Hausmarchen (1812-1815), known in English as Grimm's Fairy Tales, a collection of 200 tales taken mostly from oral sources which helped establish the science of folklore. Wilhelm's chief solo work was The German Heroic Tale (1829

(1828-1905) The French novelist was the first authentic exponent of modern science fiction. The best of his work is characterized by intelligent predictions of technical achievements actually within man's grasp at his time. His novels include the classics A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). While studying law, Verne wrote plays and librettos, but soon turned to writing novels full-time. He wrote dozens of books in his career and became the world-famous and

(1850-1893) French writer of short stories. His law studies were interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War; his experience as a volunteer provided him with material for some of his best works. Later, as a civil-service employee, he became a protégé of Gustave Flaubert. He first gained attention with Boule de Suif' (1880; Ball of Fat), probably his finest story. In the next 10 years he published some 300 short stories, six novels, and three travel books. Taken together, his stories present a broad, naturalistic

Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm (1785-1863) & Wilhelm Carl Grimm (1786-1859) They were German folklorists and philologists. They spent most of their lives in literary research as librarians and professors at the Universities of Gottingen and Berlin. They are most famous for Kinder- und Hausmarchen (1812-1815), known in English as Grimm's Fairy Tales, a collection of 200 tales taken mostly from oral sources, which helped establish the science of folklore. Wilhelm's chief solo work was The German Heroic Tale (182

(Aleksey Maximovich Pyeshkov) was born in Russia. Gorky´s collection of short stories Sketches and Stones (1898), published by a radical pres. Foma Gordeyev (1899) was his first published novel. Russian author considered the father of Soviet revolutionary literature and founder of the doctrine of socialist realism wrote The Mother (1906). In 1914 he returned to Russia and the first of his autobiographical novels My Childhood appeared the same year, followed by In the World in 1916. My Universities (1922) is

Era una fredda giornata d´inverno; bianchi fiocchi cadevano volteggiando dal cielo come piume leggere e una regina sedeva ricamando accanto alla finestra aperta. Mentre così se ne stava, ricamando e guardando la neve, si punse un dito con l´ago e tre gocce di sangue rosse come rubini caddero sul bianco manto nevoso.

C´erano una volta... tre Orsi, che vivevano in una casina nel bosco. C´era Babbo Orso grosso grosso, con una voce grossa grossa; c´era Mamma Orsa grossa la metà, con una voce grossa la metà; e c´era un Orsetto piccolo piccolo con una voce piccola piccola. Una mattina i tre Orsi facevano colazione e Mamma Orsa disse: - La pappa e troppo calda, ora.

Moltissimo tempo fa, quando si filava ancora la lana, nelle campagne vivevano due poveri contadini, marito e moglie. Sebbene fossero molto poveri, desideravano moltissimo d´avere un figlio.

Poichè quel luogo era lontano da ogni via di passaggio e molto solitario, Alì Babà pensò dovesse trattarsi di qualche banda di ladri e ritenne prudente mettersi in salvo fino a che non avesse potuto vedere chi erano i cavalieri che arrivavano così di carriera.

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) was born in Berdichev, Ukraine, on December 3rd, 1857. He was born Polish but he would become renowned for his English short stories and novels. His father, Apollo Korzeniowski, worked as a translator of English and French literature, so Joseph had a significant exposure to literature while still a boy. In 1861 his family was exiled to Northern Russia as a result of his father´s political activities. Then in 1869, both of Conrad´s parents died of tuberculosis and he went to Switz

On a planet where violence and vengeance rule, in a galaxy where some are favoured by fate, everyone develops a currentgift, a unique power meant to shape the future. While most benefit from their currentgifts, Akos and Cyra do not - their gifts make them vulnerable to others' control. Can they reclaim their gifts, their fates, and their lives, and reset the balance of power in this world? Cyra is the sister of the brutal tyrant who rules the Shotet people. Cyra's currentgift gives her pain and power -

Jack London´s full name was John Griffith London, and he was bom in San Francisco. After completing grammar school, London worked at various jobs to help support his family. Fie briefly enrolled in a university and took English classes, for he loved to read and write. However, he was not happy with this formal education and he soon dropped out. In 1897 and 1898, London, like many other American and Canadian men, went north to Alaska and the Klondike region of Canada to search for gold. This was the Alaska

David Herbert Lawrence was born in 1885 in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, the fourth child of Arthur Lawrence and Lydia Beardsall. After attending Beauvale Board School he won a scholarship to Nottingham High School, On leaving school in 1901 he was employed for a short time as a clerk at the Nottingham firm of Haywards, manufacturers of surgical appliances, and from 1902 as a pupil teacher at the British School in Eastwood. He attended the Pupil-Teacher Centre in Ilkeston from 1904 and in 1906 took up a teach

Anna Sewell is born in Norfolk, England. The daughter of a successful children's book writer, she helped edit her mother's manuscripts from an early age but was not published herself until she was 57. Black Beauty, the first significant children's story in the English language to focus on animal characters, established the precedent for countless other works. Appalled by the cruel treatment of horses by some masters during her day, Sewell wrote the book to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding tre

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) was born in Berdichev, Ukraine, on December 3rd, 1857. He was born Polish but he would become renowned for his English short stories and novels. His father, Apollo Korzeniowski, worked as a translator of English and French literature, so Joseph had a significant exposure to literature while still a boy. In 1861 his family was exiled to Northern Russia as a result of his father´s political activities. Then in 1869, both of Conrad´s parents died of tuberculosis and he went to Switz