Charles Dickens

Charles  Dickens

Quick Facts

Author Name Charles John Huffam Dickens

Nationality British

Birth Date February 7, 1812

Death Date June 9, 1870

Place of Birth Portsmouth, England, United Kingdom

Place of Death Higham, Kent, United Kingdom

Charles John Huffam Dickens is a famous British novelist, journalist, editor, illustrator and social commentator.Dickens was born in England in 1812 and died in 1870.His notable works includes Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol,Nicholas Nickleby,David Copperfield,A Tale of Two Cities and Great expectations.Dickens is considered as one of the most important and influential writers of the 19th century.

Charles Dickens had a bitter childhood, but he was lucky enough to attend school.His father, John Dickens,worked as a clerk for the Navy.His mother's name was Elizabeth Barrow.Charles had seven brothers and sisters.Born in Portsmouth,Dickens left school to work in a factory at the age of 12,when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison.
He worked there for three years. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five Novellas hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles.

Here are some interesting facts about Charles Dickens. Dickens was keenly interested in the paranormal, and has even been linked to the famous paranormal investigation group “The Ghost Club” of London.The Dickens family had a pet raven  named Grip, which he had stuffed when it died in 1841. He was obsessive compulsive,reportedly always re-arranging his hotel furniture and having sleep with his head pointing towards north.In his study he had a secret door which was designed like a bookcase filled with fake books rumored to include titles like Noah’s Arkitecture and a nine-volume set titled Cat’s Lives.Dickens appeared on the British £10 note.

Charles Dickens died on 9th June 1870.He suffered a stroke after completing a full day’s work on his novel in progress,Edwin Drood.

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

DAVID AND GOLIATH: UNDERDOGS, MISFITS AND THE ART OF BATTLING GIANTS

Gabriel García Márquez

Gabriel García Márquez

Born: 6 March 1927, Aracataca, Colombia

Died: 17 April 2014, Mexico City, Mexico

“What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.”

“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.”

Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo or Gabito throughout Latin America. His fiction work introduced readers to magical realism, which combines more conventional storytelling with vivid fantasy. His novels – “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and “Love in the Time of Cholera” have drawn worldwide audiences, and he won a Nobel Prize in 1982.

Márquez was born on March 6, 1927.He grew up with his maternal grant parent – his grandfather was a pensioned colonel from the civil war at the beginning of the century. Marquez’s first novel “Leaf Storm” was published in 1955. His best-known novel, “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, published in 1967. Other major works include “Love in the Time of Cholera” (1985) and “The General in His Labyrinth” (1989). In 1999, Garcia Marquez was diagnosed with cancer and was died on April 17, 2014, at age 87 at his Mexico City home. With lyricism and marked wisdom, Marquez has been recognized as one of the most remarkable storytellers of the 20th century.

“It's enough for me to be sure that you and I exist at this moment.”
― Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

“He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.”
― Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera