Portal:Literature/Biography archive/2006, Week 52

Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936) was a British author and poet best known today for his children's books: The Jungle Book (1894), The Second Jungle Book (1895), Just So Stories (1902), and Puck of Pook's Hill (1906); his many-sided novel, Kim (1901); his poems: Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), and "If—" (1895); and his early short stories of life in British India. He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story and his best work—written before age 40—reveals a remarkable and precocious literary talent, though one clouded today by his real or perceived prejudice.

Kipling was one of the most popular writers in English, in both prose and verse, in the early 20th century. In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, making him the first English language writer to receive the prize, and he remains today the youngest-ever recipient. Later in life, his political opinions turned him into a controversial figure and, in death, he remained controversial for much of the 20th century.