By Elodie Barnes | On June 26, 2023 | Updated May 6, 2025 | Comments (0)
Penelope Fitzgerald (December 17, 1916 – April 28, 2000) was a novelist, essayist, and biographer widely regarded as one of the greatest British writers of her generation.
She began her career later in life — her first successful novel (The Bookshop, 1978) was published when she was sixty-one — and went on to win the Booker Prize in 1979. It was also adapted into a 2017 feature film starring Emily Mortimer and Bill Nighy.
Penelope Fitzgerald’s novels have been described as “strange and original masterpieces” by her biographer, Hermione Lee, and her final work, The Blue Flower, is widely regarded as one of the best historical novels ever written. Read More→
By Elodie Barnes | On May 16, 2023 | Updated March 15, 2025 | Comments (0)
Dame Muriel Spark (February 1, 1918 – April 13, 2006) was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet, and biographer.
Her novels were famous for their wit and style, and several have been adapted for film, television, and the stage. Her best-known work is the 1961 novel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Spark was quite prolific — in a nearly fifty-year career she wrote twenty-two novels, several collections of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. She has been recognized as one of the greatest British writers. Read More→
By Elodie Barnes | On April 17, 2023 | Updated March 15, 2025 | Comments (0)
Nan Shepherd (February 11, 1893 – February 27, 1981) was a Scottish modernist poet, writer, and mountaineer.
Best known for The Living Mountain, she published three novels, a collection of poems, several essays, articles, and letters.
Her deep love of the Scottish mountains and her knowledge of them through walking was fundamental to her writing and shaped most of her work. Read More→
By Elodie Barnes | On March 21, 2023 | Updated March 15, 2025 | Comments (0)
The Moomins (Mumintroll in Swedish) were the most famous creation of Finnish-Swedish author and artist Tove Jannson. Though this beloved creator wrote and illustrated many other works for both children and adults, the names of Tove Jansson and The Moomins will be forever linked.
The family of round, white fairytale creatures — which resemble hippopotamuses — first appeared in 1946, and were the central characters in a total of nine novels, four picture books, and a comic strip that ran for more than twenty years.
Although Tove was a prolific illustrator, painter, and writer for adults, the Moomins are her enduring legacy, beloved across Finland and the world, and still hugely popular today. Read More→
By Elodie Barnes | On February 27, 2023 | Updated April 23, 2025 | Comments (2)
Tove Jansson (August 9, 1914 – June 27, 2001) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author, illustrator, and painter, active as a writer and artist for more than seventy years.
Her most famous creations, The Moomins, first appeared in 1945. The adventures and philosophical musings of Moomintroll and his family are still popular today.
She also produced paintings, short stories, novels, other children’s books, political cartoons, magazine covers, theatre sets, public murals, and much more. Read More→
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