The Bookish Elf

Early Life Writer Paulo Coelho was born on August 24, 1947, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A son of an engineer and a housewife. He attended Jesuit school and was raised by devout Catholic parents. He determined early on that he wanted to be a writer but was discouraged by his parents, who saw no future in that profession in Brazil. According to Coelho, his parents responded to his artistic aspirations and to his introverted personality by committing him to a mental institution and approving electro-convulsive ("shock") therapy for their son. "I have forgiven," Coelho said. "It happens with love, all the time - when you have this love towards someone else, but you want this person to change, to be like you. And then love can be very destructive." Coelho eventually got out of institutional care and enrolled in law school, but dropped out to indulge in the "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" of hippie life in the 1970s. He became inv...

Born: September 15, 1890 in Torquay, England Died: January 12, 1976 in Wallingford, England English author and playwriter Agatha Christie was the best-selling mystery writer of all time. She wrote ninety-three books and seventeen plays, including the longest-running play of modern-day theater, The Mousetrap. She is the only mystery writer to have created two important detectives as characters, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Childhood and Early Life: The daughter of an American father and a British mother, Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born at Torquay in the United Kingdom on September 15, 1890. Her family was comfortable, although not wealthy. She was educated at home, with later studies in Paris, France. Christie taught herself to read at age of five years . She grew up in a family environment full of stories—from the dramatic, suspenseful tales her mother told her at bedtime to her elder sister's frightening creations. She began creating her own fictions,...

Author, Writer, Physician and creator of Sherlock Holmes Born: 22 May 1859, Edinburgh, Scotland. Died: 7 July 1930, Crowborough, England. Genre: Detective fiction, fantasy, science fiction, historical novels, non-fiction. Notable Work: Stories of Sherlock Holmes, The Lost World Childhood and Early Life Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859, in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Doyles were a prosperous Irish-Catholic family. Charles Altamont Doyle, Arthur's father, a chronic alcoholic, was a moderately successful artist, who apart from fathering a brilliant son, never accomplished anything of note. Doyle's mother, Mary, was a lively and well-educated woman who loved to read. She particularly delighted in telling her young son outlandish stories. Her great enthusiasm and animation while spinning wild tales sparked the child's imagination. As Doyle would later recall in his biography, " In my early childhood, as far as I can remember anything at all, the vivid s...

Novelist, Film Producer, Television Producer, Screenwriter, Philanthropist. Born: 31 July 1965, Yate, Gloucestershire, England. Birth Name: Joanne Rowling. Pen Name: J K Rowling, Robert Galbraith. Genre: Fantasy, Drama, Young Adult Fiction, Tragicomedy, Crime Fiction. Notable works: Harry Potter Series. Childhood and Early Life J K Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling, a science technician, on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire. Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old.  She attended St Michael's Primary School. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore. As a child, J K Rowling often wrote fantasy stories which she frequently read to her sister. Aged nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. She attended secondary school at Wyed...

Born: 7 February 1812, Landport, Hampshire, England. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="181"] Buy Charles Dickens Books from Amazon [/caption] Died: 9 June 1870, Higham, Kent, England Charles Dickens was the well-loved and prolific British author of numerous works that are now considered classics. Over the course of his writing career, he wrote the beloved classic novels Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. Dickens died of a stroke, leaving his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished. Childhood and Early Life Famous British author Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Portsmouth, on the southern coast of England. He was the second of eight children. His father, John Dickens, was a naval clerk who dreamed of striking it rich. Charles Dickens’ mother, Elizabeth Barrow, aspired to be a teacher and school director. Despite his parents’ bes...