(15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976)
Born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller in Devon, United Kindom, Agatha Christie needs no introduction. The youngest of three children, Agatha was initially home schooled by her mother and a series of governesses. She trained to be a singer and pianist but due to her shy nature she did not make a career of it. Duing World War 1 she worked as a nurse and then went on to work in a pharmacy; many attribute the use of poison in her novels to her experience with drugs and medicine. On Christmas Eve in 1914, Agatha married an aviator, Archibald Christie. They divorced in 1928.
Agatha started writing her first novel as a result of a challenge issued by her elder sister Madge. It was rejected by 6 publishers and took 5 years to be published.In 1920, The Mysterious Affair at Styles was finally published and her use of poison in the mystery found mention in the Pharmaceutical Journal. Agatha met her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan in Baghdad in 1930. For the next 30 years she would often accompany him on digs and her experiences were reflected in her autobiographical, Come, Tell me how you Live.
Few people know that Agatha also wrote 6 romance novels under the name Mary Westmacott. Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers’ of America Grand Master Award. Her novels have sold the maximum number of copies after the Bible and her books have been translated into 103 languages.
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(15 September 1876 – 16 January 1938)
Born in Hoogly, West Bengal, Sarat Chandra spent the first half of his life in poverty. He lived with his uncle in Bhagalpur and the place had a profound influence on his work. It was in Bhagalpur that Sarat Chandra wrote the novel Devdas. After his parents death, poverty forced Sarat Chandra to leave his studies and in 1903 he left to work as a clerk in Rangoon. On the eve of his departure, he submitted a short story under his uncle’s name. The story won the first prize and was published. This encourages Sarat Chandra to keep writing and soon his popularity led to an improvement in his financial situation. Sarat often wrote about the evils that plagued society (though he never consciously adopted a reformist agenda) and was a disciple of Swami Vivekananda. He died of liver cancer in 1938.
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