[Writer] Biographies & Profiles
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall was an American actress who was known for her attractive, sultry presence and distinctive husky voice. She was named the 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema and received an Academy Honorary Award in recognition of her contribution to the Golden Age of motion pictures. She began her career as a model before making her film debut at the age of 19. She starred in film noir films alongside Humphrey Bogart, and in romantic comedies such as "How to Marry a Millionaire" and "Designing Woman". She also appeared in Broadway musicals, earning Tony Awards for "Applause" and "Woman of the Year". Later in her career, she gained newfound success with a younger audience for roles in films such as "Misery", "Dogville" and English dubs of animated films.
Hédi Fried
Hédi Fried was a Holocaust survivor who endured Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen before coming to Sweden in 1945. She was an author and psychologist, and passed away at the age of 98 in November 2022. Fried's story is a powerful testament to the human capacity to survive and find meaning despite the most extraordinary and horrific circumstances. Her work has helped to push understanding of the Holocaust and its long-reaching impact forward. She will be remembered as an inspiring figure who demonstrated the strength and resilience of the human spirit.
Anaïs Nin
Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell was a French-born American writer. Born to Cuban parents, Nin spent her early years in Spain and Cuba, and then a further 16 years in Paris. Her later life was spent in the US, where she became an established author. She wrote prolifically, producing journals, novels, essays, short stories and erotica. Her journals detail her private thoughts and relationships, including her marriages and affairs with Otto Rank and Henry Miller. Nin was a finalist for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1976 and died of cervical cancer in 1977.
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn was a Mexican-American actor who won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor and received numerous other award nominations for his roles in films like La Strada, The Guns of Navarone, Lawrence of Arabia, and Zorba the Greek. He also was an important figure in Latin-American representation in the US media and was presented with the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987.
PewDiePie
Felix Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie, is a Swedish YouTuber known for his Let's Play videos and comedic formatted videos. His popularity and extensive media coverage have made him one of the most noted online personalities. He gained a substantial following and was one of the fastest growing channels in 2012 and 2013, before becoming the most subscribed-to channel in 2013. Kjellberg's channel featured vlogs, comedy shorts, formatted shows, and music videos. His content became more controversial in the late 2010s, leading to increased media scrutiny. In 2019, he was overtaken as the most-subscribed channel. With over 111 million subscribers and 28.8 billion views, his channel still ranks as one of the most-subscribed and viewed. Kjellberg has been noted to boost sales for the video games he plays and has helped support charity fundraising drives. In 2016, Time magazine named him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Shane Dawson
Shane Dawson, better known as Shane Lee Yaw, is an American YouTuber, actor, filmmaker, writer, and musician who gained fame on YouTube in 2008. He became well known for his comedy sketches in which he would play original characters, impersonate celebrities, and lampoon popular culture. Additionally, Dawson released several singles, notably "Superluv!", and starred in a variety of films such as Not Cool, Smiley, and Internet Famous. In 2015, he began discussing conspiracy theories on his channel, and in 2017 released a docu-series detailing his reconciliation with his absent father. In addition to his multiple series, he has published two New York Times best-selling books. In June 2020, his monetization was suspended and his books were pulled from shelves due to public backlash over controversial comments made in the past. Following a hiatus, he returned to YouTube in October 2021.
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton is an American retired politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was a member of the Democratic Party, advocating for centrist policies, and is the husband of Hillary Clinton, who also served in public office. Clinton was born in Arkansas, attended Georgetown University and Oxford, and graduated from Yale Law School. As state attorney general, Arkansas governor (twice) and President he chaired the National Governors Association, signed the North American Free Trade Agreement and Violent Crime Control & Law Enforcement Act into law, and appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer to the U.S. Supreme Court. In his second term he was impeached over a scandal involving Monica Lewinsky, but was acquitted by the Senate. Since leaving office, he has been involved in global causes such as addressing HIV/AIDS and global warming.
Anne Frank
Anne Frank was a German-born Jewish girl who spent most of her life in or around Amsterdam. During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, she and her family went into hiding in concealed rooms behind a bookcase in the building where Anne's father worked. Here she documented everyday life, and wrote in her diary which was published as The Diary of a Young Girl following her death in a concentration camp. Her diary has been translated into over 70 languages and is one of the world's best-known books, inspiring several plays and films.
Rupi Kaur
Rupi Kaur is a Canadian poet, illustrator, photographer and author who rose to fame through her performance of poetry and Instagram posts. Kaur is most known for her three collections of poetry, particularly Milk and Honey, which has sold over 2.5 million copies in 25 languages, spent 77 weeks on the New York Times Best-Seller List and been included on year-end lists by the BBC and Elle. Her other collections explore South Asian identity, immigration and femininity, and she has been praised for influencing the modern literary scene, though her works have had mixed critical reception and accusations of plagiarism.
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is an Indian-born British-American novelist renowned for his works that often combine elements of magic realism, historical fiction and the Indian subcontinent. He is best known for his novel Midnight's Children which won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was twice deemed to be the "best novel of all winners" upon the 25th and 40th anniversaries of the prize. Following the publication of his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, Rushdie faced numerous assassination attempts, death threats and a fatwa issued by Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran. His accomplishments since have included being elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, appointment as Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 1999 and knighted in 2007. Rushdie has been ranked amongst the 50 greatest British writers since 1945 and lives in the United States where he teaches at Emory University and was named Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University.