Brief biography of English writer Rudyard Kipling, famous for children and animal stories, novel 'Kim' and poem "If."
Rudyard Kipling is one of the most popular writers especially for children's stories. He is best known as the author of world famous children's stories, including The Jungle Book and Just So Stories, and novel Kim.
Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907, becoming the first English writer to win the prize.
The Early Years
English writer Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), was born to English parents on December 30, in India, at that time ruled by the British. He was educated in England between the ages of five and seventeen and then returned to India to work as a journalist.
Youthful Years and Travel to America
He began writing short stories and poems about India, a place he loved for its ancient and sophisticated culture. Aged 24, Kipling set off on a voyage to sell his work in America and England. Eventually some of his poems were printed in England, and his literary fame began to spread.
Back to England, More Stories and Novels
When living in America, aged 29, he wrote The Jungle Book based on stories he told to his daughter. This book about a boy growing up among the animals was to become his best-known work. After his daughter's death in 1899, the family returned to England and Kipling wrote his great novel Kim, an adventure set in India. The Just So Stories, a humorous collection of tales about how animals came to be the way they are, published when he was 37.
Kipling's Works
He achieved recognition with his stories and novels about India, including Plain Tales from the Hills, Barrack Room Ballads and other Verses, with that inspirational and often quoted poem "If." He wrote many animal stories and children's adventures, including The Jungle Book, Captain's Courageous, and Kim.
Last Years
Readers, young and old, love Kipling's animal stories and romantic tales about the adventures of Englishmen in strange and far away lands, and he became very famous. During the First World War, Kipling's 18-year-old son was killed. His later poems have a less bright and hopeful mood.
List of Books by Rudyard Kipling
- Plain Tales from the Hills, 1887
- Soldiers Three, 1888
- 'Baa, Baa, Black Sheep,' 1888
- Wee Willie Winkie, 1890
- The Light that Failed, novel, 1891
- Barrack Room Ballads and Other Verses, 1892
- The Jungle book, 1894
- The Second Jungle book, 1895
- Captain's Courageous, 1897
- Stalky & Co, 1899, schoolboy stories
- Kim, 1901
- Just So Stories, 1902
- Puck of Pook's Hill, 1906
- Debits and Credits, 1899, post-World War I stories
Sources:
Biographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern, Chambers (2002)
Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring, Larousse (1994)
