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Daniil Ivánovich Kharms was a 20th century Russian poet and dramatist whose poetry is usually categorised as absurdist or surrealist. He was born Daniil Ivánovich Yuvatchov on the 30th December 1905 in St. Petersburg into a family constantly at odds with the government. His father, Ivan, was a member of “The People’s Will” which was a subversive, revolutionary group whose activities included acting against the ruling ...
David Humphreys was an American poet and entrepreneur who gave distinguished service as ADC to George Washington during the War of Independence (1775-83). Following his army service, Humphreys dedicated much of his time to satirical poetry as part of a group originally called the Connecticut Wits, and then the Hartford Wits. The group are commonly known as the first American school of ...
David McKee Wright was an Irish-born poet and journalist who spent much of his life living and writing in New Zealand and Australia. He was born on the 6th August 1869 in Ballynaskeagh, County Down. His parents were both missionaries, serving in faraway lands such as Syria. The family moved to London when David was aged seven and, shortly after, he lost his ...
Denis Florence MacCarthy was a 19th century Irish poet and translator of Spanish literature. His Catholic faith had a strong influence on his work and he also never hid his Nationalist feelings about Ireland, producing a great deal of patriotic verse. He was born on the 26th May 1817 in Lower O'Connell Street, Dublin. He was educated at home during his early years ...
Donald Davidson was an American poet, teacher and literary critic with a strong social conscience. He was one of the founding members of a group called The Fugitives. They were scholars at the Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee who wrote poems and essays on social themes such as black segregation in the south and their name was taken from the title of a ...
Dinah Craik was a 19th century English poet and novelist. Some of her work is credited to Mrs Craik while her earlier efforts were published under her maiden name of Mulock. A writer of great imagination she initially wrote for children, although she did not limit herself to this field of literature as time went by. She was born Dinah Maria Mulock on ...
Donald Marquis was a humorous writer of poetry, a novelist, playwright and a famous newspaper columnist who has his place in American literary history as the creator of such characters as Archy & Mehitabel, who were a cockroach and alley cat, and a “hip flask philosopher” called The Old Soak. Add Warty Bliggens the Toad and Freddy the Rat and you will ...
Dorothea Mackellar, OBE was an Australian poet and writer of fiction who has been credited with the composition of what is, arguably, Australia’s best loved poem. She wrote the patriotic My Country in 1904 when she was in England and the wistful, plaintive tone of the poem leaves the reader in no doubt how homesick she was for the country she loved. Her “bush” poetry ...
David Mallet was an 18th century Scottish poet and dramatist. He changed his name from Malloch when he moved to London in 1723, and has been described by some historians as an “unpopular” Scotsman. Perhaps the Scots did not like the fact that he anglicised his name. One of his most famous pieces of work was a masque called Alfred, co-written in 1740 ...
Bob Flanagan was an American poet and musician who was also known as a performance artist, often specialising in sado-masochistic acts. He was born on the 26th December 1952 in New York City but the family moved to Glendale, California not long after Bob was born. He was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when very young and his doctors did not think he would ...
