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Grodon, Charles Sidney

(Encyclopedia)Grodon, Charles Sidney, 1935-2021, American film actor, writer, and director, b. Pittsburgh, Pa. Grodon briefly attended the Univ. of Miami and then be...

Lee, Ang

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Ang äng [key], 1954–, Taiwanese filmmaker. Lee is one of the few directors who have achieved commercial and critical success in Asia and the United States, and is also unusual in the wide rang...

Gibson, William

(Encyclopedia)Gibson, William, 1948–, Canadian science fiction writer, b. Conway, S.C., moved to Canada in the 1960s. He first published short stories in sci-fi magazines; many are collected in Burning Chrome (19...

Lyly, John

(Encyclopedia)Lyly or Lilly, John both: lĭlˈē [key], 1554?–1606, English dramatist and prose writer. An accomplished courtier, he also served as a member of Parliament from 1589 to 1601. His Euphues, published...

Laxness, Halldór Kiljan

(Encyclopedia)Laxness, Halldór Kiljan hälˈdōr kĭlˈyän läkhsˈnĕs [key], 1902–98, Icelandic novelist, b. Reykjavík as Halldór Kiljan Gudjónsson. Although Laxness was converted to Roman Catholicism brie...

Afrofuturism

(Encyclopedia) Afrofuturism, artistic and cultural movement that is based on the wedding of African diasporic themes with modern technology and elements of science fiction and fantasy. The term is gener...

Rossini, Gioacchino Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Rossini, Gioacchino Antonio jōäk-kēˈnō äntôˈnyō rōs-sēˈnē [key], 1792–1868, Italian operatic composer, one of the great masters of the Italian opera buffa. His parents were both musicia...

Wodehouse, P. G.

(Encyclopedia)Wodehouse, P. G. (Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse) wo͝odˈhousˌ [key], 1881–1975, English-American novelist and humorist. After a short period, first working at a bank and then writing for a London...

Hrabal, Bohumil

(Encyclopedia)Hrabal, Bohumil, 1914–97, one of the most important and popular Czech writers of the 20th cent., b. Brünn, Austria-Hungary (now Brno, Czech Republic). After working at a number of jobs, he became a...

O'Brien, Flann

(Encyclopedia)O'Brien, Flann, pseud. for Brian Ó Nualláin or O'Nolan ō nōˈlən [key] 1911–66, Irish novelist and political commentator. Born in County Tyrone and raised in Dublin, he studied at University Co...