blogis librorum. A blog about books. Rare books.

American writer and novelist Pearl Sydenstricker Buck, was born June 26, 1892 in Hillsboro, West Virginia. Her parents were both Presbyterian missionaries and subsequently, she spent most of her early life living in China. Buck learned English and Chinese, as well as the local Chinese dialect, and her parents encouraged her to embrace the culture as if it were her own. Buck returned to the States to attend university. Following graduation, she married John Buck and together they moved back to China. She worked at several private colleges, teaching English Literature, but did not consider writing seriously until 1927.

Jean-Paul Sartre was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, and political activist. Born on June 21, 1905, he was a man of many talents, many of which you may be aware of. However, as an exceedingly diverse character there are probably many interesting things you don’t know!

This week we celebrate the life of author Saul Bellow, winner of the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, and three National Book Awards. He is most famous for his novels, The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog, and Henderson the Rain King. How well do you know this classic American writer? Test your knowledge against these ten facts.

Nobel Prize-winner, Ferit Orhan Pamuk, was born to a wealthy Turkish family on June 7, 1952. His novels have been translated into 55 languages and his work has sold over eleven million copies worldwide. As a child and young adult, Pamuk devoted himself to painting. Yet at age 23, he put his paints aside and began writing his first novel, Cevdet Bey and Sons.

The multifaceted philosopher, mathematician, political activist, and writer Bertrand Russell was born in Trelleck, Wales on May 18, 1872 to Lord and Lady Amberly. He had two older siblings, Frank and Rachel. Although Russell was set up for a perfect childhood, by the age of six he had experienced more death than imaginable. His parents died before he was three years old, and his sister and paternal grandfather soon followed. Russell and his brother, Frank were sent to live with Countess Russell, their paternal grandmother. While Frank was sent to a private school, Russell was homeschooled by private tutors, making his childhood fairly lonely and isolated. His seclusion was not all for naught, as he discovered a passion for math during this time, loving it for its certainty. During this time he was also introduced to Percy Bysshe Shelley and Euclid, which changed his way of thinking forever.

"When you read a good story, you keep reading. When I write a good story, I just keep writing." 

Haruki Murakami rose to become one of Japan's most accomplished and beloved authors, yet he eschews the limelight. Thanks to Murakami's varied, engaging style, his books have sold millions of copies and been translated into at least fifty languages. 

The Double Helix, James D. Watson’s account how he and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA, is both highly acclaimed and controversial. Listed as number seven on the Modern Library’s list of the “100 Best Nonfiction Books of the 20^th Century”, and one of the Library of Congress’ 88 “Books that Shaped America,” the work nearly remained unpublished due to the strong objections of Watson’s former colleagues.

Poet Seamus Heaney was born April 13, 1939 in a town located in Northern Ireland. The oldest of nine children, Heaney was raised by a father with a deep rural background of farming and herding cattle and a mother from an urban family with a history of working in textile mills. Heaney attended St. Columb’s College, a Catholic boarding school, on scholarship. While he was away, his four year old brother, Christopher was killed by a car. His young death would inspire numerous poems including “Mid-Term Break” (1966) and “The Blackbird of Glanmore” (2006).

The exceptionally talented novelist and essay writer Mario Vargas Llosa won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010 due to his ability to impact people all over the world with his writing, and he is considered to be one of the greatest writers of his generation. Much like a literary character, Llosa has experienced a great amount of controversy in his lifetime. While he remains very active in politics, his opinions continually get him into trouble.