Joanne Rowling, (born 31 July 1965), better known under the pen name J.K. Rowling is a British author best known as the creator of the Harry Potter fantasy series, the idea for which was conceived whilst on a train trip from Manchester to London in 1990. The Potter books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, sold more than 400 million copies, and been the basis for a popular series of films.
Bernard Cornwell OBE (born February 23, 1944) is a prolific and popular English historical novelist. As a child he was adopted by a family by the name of Wiggins. After he left them he changed his name to his mother's maiden name, Cornwell. Cornwell is most famous for his Sharpe series of novels; later made into a popular Television Series featuring Sean Bean as the eponymous hero Richard Sharpe.
Neil Richard Gaiman (born November 10, 1960, Portchester, Hampshire) is an English author of numerous science fiction and fantasy works. As of 2006, he lives near Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. While Gaiman is most famously known for The Sandman, a series of graphic novels, many of his other works translate well to the spoken word. Gaiman is a prolific blogger and has a noted interest in music. He befriended Tori Amos early in her career after she sent him a demo tape.
Douglas Noël Adams (11th March 1952–11th May 2001) was an English radio comic dramatist and novelist, most notably of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Hitchhiker's began on radio, and developed into a "trilogy" of five books (which sold more than fifteen million copies during his lifetime), as well as a television series, a stage show, a comic book series, a computer game, and a feature film that was completed after Adams's death.
Malcolm Gladwell (born September 1, 1963) is a United Kingdom-born, Canadian-raised journalist now based in New York City who has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996. He is known as the author of the books The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (2000) and Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005). His writing often deals with the unexpected implications of research in the social sciences, particularly sociology and psychology. His books and articles make frequent and extended use of academic work, particularly in the area of social psychology.
Sir Terence David John Pratchett is an English fantasy author (born April 28, 1948, in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England), best known for his Discworld series. As of March 2005 he has sold approximately 60 million books worldwide. He is also generally regarded as one of the finest satirists currently writing in the English language, and has been compared to such diverse figures as Douglas Adams, Jonathan Swift, Charles Dickens, Lewis Carroll, Evelyn Waugh and P. G. Wodehouse.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy began as a science fiction comedy radio series written by Douglas Adams (with some material in the first series provided by John Lloyd). It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom over the BBC, soon followed by global short wave broadcast over the BBC World Service, in 1978. Broadcasting by National Public Radio (one of their first to occur in stereo) in the United States followed in March, 1981, with a repeat broadcast in September. The following year, 1982, the BBC series was carried by CBC Radio (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).
Cassandra Clare was born to American parents in Teheran, Iran and spent much of her childhood traveling the world with her family, including one trek through the Himalayas as a toddler where she spent a month living in her father’s backpack. She lived in France, England and Switzerland before she was ten years old. Since her family moved around so much she found familiarity in books and went everywhere with a book under her arm.
The only girl I've ever loved
Was born with roses in her eyes
But then they buried her alive
One evening 1945
With just her sister at her side
And only weeks before the guns
All came and rained on everyone
Now she's a little boy in Spain
Playing pianos filled with flames
On empty rings around the sun
All sing to say my dream has come But now we must pack up every piece
Of the life we used to love
Just to keep ourselves
At least enough to carry on
Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), commonly known as Agatha Christie, was an English crime writer of novels, short stories and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but is best remembered for her 80 detective novels and her successful West End theatre plays. Her works, particularly featuring detectives Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple, have given her the title the 'Queen of Crime' and made her one of the most important and innovative writers in the development of the genre.