Hermann Hesse (2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Swiss poet, author and painter. Hesse was a headstrong child, his mother wrote “The little fellow has a life in him, an unbelievable strength, a powerful will, and, for his four years of age, a truly astonishing mind.” Hermann Gundert, Hermann Hesse’s grandfather and a doctor of philosophy (as well as fluent in multiple languages), encouraged his grandson to read a lot, and even gave him access to his library. Hesse tried to work in a bookshop, but quite after 3 days. Hesse, Maria Bernoulli, was from a famous family of mathematicians. In World War I, Mr. Hesse Hesse volunteered with the Imperial army but was found unfit for combat duty. Instead he was assigned to care for POWs. Maria suffered from psychosis and after her recovery the couple separated. Hesse attempted to work against Hitler‘s suppression of art and literature that protested Nazi ideology. The Nazis eventually banned his work in their magazines. In 1946, Mr. Hesse received the Nobel Prize in Literature. The New York Times went so far as to claim that Hesse’s works were largely “inaccessible” for American readers. Hesse calculated that his average daily correspondence…

8)Mrs. Buck’s autobiography, My Several Worlds, does not mention her husband or parents. The book is a detailed account, however, of the life of a parent of a disabled child.

When The Satanic Verses came out several book stores in England and the US had bomb scares, two Islamic clerics were murdered for publicly questioning the fatwa and book burnings were held throughout the world.
Even the most astute PR firm could come up with such brilliant marketing.

Anne Frank’s Diary was published in 67 languages and is considered one of the best first-hand experiences of the war from a unique Jewish perspective.

Down All the Days, an expansion of My Left Foot, was an international best seller was said to be “the most important Irish novel since Ulysses.”

Ian Fleming (28 May, 1908 – 12 August, 1964) is a British writer best known for creating the superspy James Bond, Agent 007.

Trained as a physician, he opened a practice but closed it because he never received any patients.

Mr. Baum was an adamant supporter of women’s rights. His mother in law, Matilda Joslyn Gage, even wrote a book, History of Woman Suffrage (availble for free) with Susan B. Anthony, however it is said she did not like her son-in-law very much.

Robert Browning (8 May, 1812 – 12 December, 1889) was an English poet with a flair for the dramatic. Works by Robert Browning Browning was educated at home and lived many years under his parents’ roof while fostering a literary career. English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and playwright William Shakespeare were a major influence on Mr. Browning. When a collection of letters by Shelley was discovered, Browning wrote the preface. Later, it was discovered that the letters were fake and the collection never published; however, Browning’s preface remains an important piece due to its famous distinction between “objective” and “subjective” writers. Browning wrote poetry as dramatic monologues because his plays were poorly received and the drama was not suited for the theatre. Famous poetess Elizabeth Barrett Browning (“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”) was his wife. During her life, she was the more famous of the two. Even though Mr. Browning was a citizen of the British Empire, he spent almost a quarter of his life in Italy, which was a large influence of his work. Browning ’s poem The Ring and the Book is made out of 20,000 lines. Robert Browning died on the day…

Heller’s agent sold the unfinished manuscript of Catch-22 to Simon and Schuster. The publisher paid $750 and promised another $750 when the manuscript will be delivered 3 years later. Mr. Heller missed the deadline by 5 years or so.