Roger Hargreaves was born in West Yorkshire, England in 1935 and had a fairly simple early life. His talent for art, particularly cartoon art, drove him to a career in illustrating, which he originally had no success with. However, when his son asked him ‘what does a tickle look like’ he drew a round orange … Read more
Arthur Hailey was a British-Canadian writer born in 1920, who became a full-time novelist after the success of his television series Flight Into Danger. He juggled writing thriller novels with writing screenplays for television dramas and received huge praise for his contribution to television throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s. His first novel, The … Read more
Dr. Seuss, whose real name is Theodore Seuss Geisel, is one of the most prevalent children’s book authors in history. His use of ‘Dr’ in his pseudonym is likely a reference to his uncompleted doctorate. This American author and illustrator was known for his playful, whimsical, and light-hearted books that typically centered around childish nonsense … Read more
Mary Higgins Clark wrote 56 best-selling books during her (almost) 40-year writing career. She was known predominantly for her gripping suspense novels but also wrote four collections of short stories, a historical novel, a memoir, and two children’s books. She wrote many stand-alone novels, but a lot of her suspense writings can be categorized by … Read more
Joanne Kathleen Rowling, more commonly known by her pen name J.K. Rowling or pseudonym Robert Galbraith, is most famous for creating the magical Harry Potter books. J.K. Rowling’s story is a real-life ‘rags to riches’ tale, as she claims she was as poor as you could get without being homeless in modern London. Taking inspiration … Read more
Georges Simenon was a Belgian writer in the 1900s. Possibly the most published author of the twentieth century, Simenon went to Paris after obtaining work with a newspaper, intending to become a successful writer. Between 1923 and 1933, he published 200 works using 16 different pseudonyms. This soon made him a millionaire and allowed him … Read more
Harold Robbins was an American author whose novels often covered the journeys protagonists would take from poverty to riches, typically interweaving betrayal, murder, arrogance, passion, and luxury. His books were often racy, which reflected his own lifestyle. British journalist Donald Zec called him “the Onassis of supermarket literature” and he was known for star-studded parties … Read more
Andrew Rowe has a background in professional game design and runs ‘Shades of Venaya’, a live-action role-playing game based around swords and sorcery. Based on his gaming experience and the inspiration gained from reading hundreds of fantasy comic books, Rowe began writing his own fantasy stories. He has written three novel series, that chronologically follow … Read more
Jess Lourey is known to experiment with genre and style, so her books cannot be pigeonholed into one category. However, the one thing that ties all of her books together is secrecy. Lourey claims to be fascinated by the things people hide from the world and has made a successful career out of it. Some … Read more
Sarah Penner is known for interesting, intelligent, and gripping historical fiction novels. Her bestselling novel, The Lost Apothecary is set in 1791 on the dark streets of London and follows a female apothecary who provides local women with poisons to escape the men in their lives. Her second novel, The London Seance Society is set … Read more