Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–75) is one of the most famous authors in Italian literature. A proto-humanist writer and scholar, his works include On Famous Women, Decameron and poetry in the Florentine vernacular.

Care Santos

Care Santos studied Law before devoting herself to writing full-time. She is the multi-award-winning author of many children’s books and several novels, the last one of which is Desire for Chocolate, winner of the prestigious Ramón Llull Prize in 2014. Her work has been translated into over fifteen languages.

Read an interview with Care Santos here

Guido Cavalcanti

Described by Dante as his “first friend”, Guido Cavalcanti (c.1258–1300) is one of the greatest Italian poets. He is remembered as a leading figure in the group of poets associated with the dolce stil novo (“sweet new style”), a refined form of love poetry. He died in Florence of a fever which he caught during the exile imposed on him for political violence.

Willem Elsschot

Willem Elsschot was the pen name of Alphonsus Josephus de Ridder, an Antwerp advertising executive who became an icon of Flemish literature. His concise, witty and often cynical novels satirize the mundanity of twentieth-century life and are cherished throughout Belgium and Holland.

Georges Bizet

Georges Bizet (1838–1875) was a French composer of great brilliance and originality, but who never lived to see the success of his work. In addition to Carmen, his operas include Les Pêcheurs de perles and La Jolie Fille de Perth. He died, aged thirty-six, three months after failure of the Paris premiere of Carmen.

Anna Sewell

The daughter of a successful children’s author, Anna Sewell (1820–78) suffered serious ankle injuries at the age of twelve and often had to rely on horse-drawn carriages as a means of transport, which provided material for her only novel, Black Beauty. Sadly she died of illness only five months after it was published in 1877.

Cécile Aubry

Cécile Aubry (1928–2010) was a successful French actress who gave up her career in front of the cameras to devote herself to writing children’s novels and screenplays. She is most famous for the Belle et Sébastien series, for which she wrote the books and their television adaptations.

Maurice Leblanc

Maurice Leblanc (1864–1941) was a French novelist and short-story writer who is best remembered as the creator of the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, the protagonist of many of his stories.

L.M. Montgomery

One of Canada’s most popular children’s authors, L.M. Montgomery (1874–1942) is best remembered for her first book, Anne of Green Gables, which brought her instant success. A series of sequels followed, as well as works such as Rilla of Ingleside.

Jerome K. Jerome

A English writer and humorist, Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) wrote a range of plays, essays and novels during his lifetime and is best known for the classic comic work Three Men in a Boat.