William Stanley Merwin was an American poet who wrote more than fifty books of poetry and prose, and produced many works in translation. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thematically characterized by indirect, unpunctuated narration. In the 1980s and 1990s, his writing influence derived from an interest in Buddhist philosophy and deep ecology. Residing in a rural part of Maui, Hawaii, he wrote prolifically and was dedicated to the restoration of the island's rainforests.
William Somerset Maugham was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German university. He became a medical student in London and qualified as a physician in 1897. He never practised medicine, and became a full-time writer. His first novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897), a study of life in the slums, attracted attention, but it was as a playwright that he first achieved national celebrity. By 1908 he had four plays running at once in the West End of London. He wrote his 32nd and last play in 1933, after which he abandoned the theatre and concentrated on novels and short stories.
Wace, sometimes referred to as Robert Wace, was a Medieval Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy, ending his career as Canon of Bayeux.
Wacław Berent was a Polish novelist, essayist and literary translator from the Art Nouveau period, publishing under the pen names S.A.M. and Wł. Rawicz. He studied Natural Science in Kraków and Zurich, and obtained a PhD in Munich before returning to Warsaw and embarking on a literary career around the turn of the century. Having devoted himself to writing he was influenced by Nietzsche, whom he translated. Berent became a member of the prestigious Polish Academy of Literature in 1933.
Wacław Potocki was a Polish nobleman (szlachcic), moralist, poet, and writer. He was the podczaszy of Kraków from 1678 to 1685. He is remembered as one of the most important Polish baroque artists. His most famous works are: Transakcja wojny chocimskiej and his collection of epigrams, Ogród fraszek. They give a vivid picture of ideas and manners among the szlachta towards the end of the Polish Golden Age, and of many political and religious conflicts.
Wacław Kajetan Sieroszewski was a Polish writer, Polish Socialist Party activist, and soldier in the World War I-era Polish Legions. For activities subversive of the Russian Empire, he had spent many years in Siberian exile.
