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Laura E. Richards

1850 - 1943

Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards was an American writer who wrote over 90 books and poems. Some of her works were written for children, one such especially well-known poem is her literary nonsense verse, "Eletelephony." Richards also won the Pulitzer Prize in 1917 for the biography she co-authored with her sisters about the life of their mother, Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910.

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Leslie Pinckney Hill

1880 - 1960

Leslie Pinckney Hill was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, on May 14, 1880. A graduate of Harvard University’s bachelors and masters programs, Hill was a poet, playwright, educator, and community leader and organizer. His published works include The Wings of Oppression (The Stratford Co., 1921) and the play Toussaint L’ Ouverture, A Dynamic History (The Christopher Publishing House, 1928). He ... [+]

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Mark Twain

1835 - 1910

Mark Twain is the pen name of the American journalist, humorist, lecturer and novelist Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He is best known for his book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A son of the Frontier, he has overcome the apparent limitations of his origins to become a popular figure and one of America’s best and most beloved writer.

Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

1852 - 1930

American writer of the local colour movement, Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman was a self taught woman who started writing as a teenager to help support her family.
She is very famous for her stories about frustrated lives in New England villages and for her strong female characters who contested contemporary ideas concerning what female roles, values and relationships should be in society ... [+]

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O. Henry

1862 - 1910

O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter, an American short story writer who is known for his tales about the life of ordinary people, especially in New York. His stories generally expressed the effect of coincidence on character through humour, grim or irony. Above anything else, he is known for his surprise endings. Once his trademark, it finally cost him critical favour.

Olivia Ward Bush-Banks

1869-1944

American author, poet and journalist of African-American and Montaukett Native American heritage, she celebrated both of her heritages in her work. After being noticed by Paul Laurence Dunbar, she published two volumes of poetry and became a member of the early Harlem Renaissance.

Raymond G. Dandridge

1883 - 1930

Raymond G. Dandridge was nicknamed “The Paul Laurence Dunbar of Cincinnati” because his use of dialect and his subject matter closely matched that of 1900s poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. Dandridge emulated Dunbar’s works, but he also took part in the 1920s Harlem Renaissance, using his art as a means for the social advancement of blacks. Despite his relative seclusion from Harlem, New York, and ... [+]

Ring Lardner

1885 - 1933

The American sports columnist and short story writer, Ring Lardner, was considered to be both one of the most gifted and one of the bitterest satirist in the United States. He is best known for his satirical writings about sports and society. That great storyteller, he was also known for using the vernacular.

Rudyard Kipling

1865 - 1936

The English journalist, short story writer, poet and novelist, Rudyard Kipling, is usually remembered as the advocate of British imperialism through his short stories and poems about Britsh soldiers in India. He also wrote several tales for kids including The Jungle Book. By winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907, he became the first author, writing in English, to ever receive it.