Before his death at only 48 in 2009, David Seabrook had produced two books. One of them, `All the Devils are Here’ (Granta, London, 2002) serves to some extent as an inspiration for this project on Kent Literature. A collection of essays about cultural history in the county, it devotes Read more…
Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) uniquely combined talent as a poet and composer. Born in Gloucester, his father was a tailor. Experience of music while a chorister in the city cathedral enabled him to win a scholarship to attend the Royal College of Music where he was instructed by, amongst others, Charles Read more…
Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála “Emmuska” Orczy de Orci, or, to giver her her better known name, Baroness Orczy (1865-1947) was born in Hungary in an aristocratic family, but moved to Britain at the age of 14. She married the son of a clergyman who she had met at Read more…
The writer and, in his later life before his death in the First World War, poet Edward Thomas (1878-1917) was born in Lambeth, London, to a family whose ancestry came from Wales. This connection was one he stressed in his work. After school in London, he went to Lincoln College, Read more…
In his tragically short, heroic life, the novelist Denton Welch (1915-1948) moved between two worlds – that of the Republican era Shanghai, China, where he had been born and spent his first years due to his father’s business there, and then the Britain of the 1920s through the Second World Read more…
The hugely popular Victorian author of `The Moonstone’ and `The Woman in White’, Wilkie Colllins (1824-1889) had numerous, longstanding links to Kent, despite not being a native of the country. These can, however, divided into two groups. One was due to his visits on the grounds of health, particularly to Read more…
William Makepeace Thackery (1811-1863) was one of the best loved of Victorian novelists, and continues through `Vanity Fair’ (1847-1853), his `Pendennis’ series, along with the `The Luck of Barry Lyndon’ (1844) to enjoy popularity. His works are written with great energy and vitality, despite the fact that his life was Read more…
John Betjeman (1906-1984), Poet Laureate from 1972 to his death, saviour of St Pancras Station (where his statue stands, much photographed, gazing up at the magnificent roof), wrote one poem specifically about Kent – `Margate 1940’ – in the 1945 collection, `New Bats in Old Belfries.’ `From out The Queen’s Read more…
Keith Castelllain Douglas (1920-1944) despite being born at the Garden Home Nursing Home in the relatively affluent town of Tunbridge Wells did not have an easy childhood. His father, a retired army captain, set up a chicken farm in the mid 1920s which did not prove successful, the failure of Read more…
The American novelist, activist and journalist Jack London (1876-1916) is widely known today for his stories drawn from his experience of the Klondike Gold Rush – `The Call of the Wild’ (1903) and `White Fang’ (1906) being amongst the most popular. They are characterised by an almost breathless style, recounting Read more…