Rudyard Kipling was a famous English writer, poet and novelist. His best works are considered to be “The Jungle Book” and “Mandalay”. In 1907, Kipling became the first Englishman to win the Nobel

Rudyard Kipling (30.12.1865 – 18.01.1936)

Rudyard Kipling was a famous English writer, poet and novelist. His best works are considered to be “The Jungle Book” and “Mandalay”. In 1907, Kipling became the first Englishman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. In 1907 Kipling was the first Englishman who was awarded the Nobel prize in Literature. He also had honorary degrees of many world-famous universities, including Oxford and Cambridge.

The writer was born on December 30th, 1865, in Bombay in India, in the family of arts school professor. He was supposedly named after the Lake Rudyard where his parents met each other. His early years were spent in exotic India, but at the age of five he was sent to study in England. The owner of the private school where he lived and studied was very mean and often punished him. As a result, Rudyard suffered from insomnia.

When he was 12, he was sent to study at a private school in Devon, so that he could continue his education in a prestigious military academy afterwards. The headmaster of this school was his father’s friend and the person who encouraged Rudyard to love literature. Due to poor eyesight, he wasn’t accepted at the military academy, so he had to choose another path. Having read his school stories, his father found a job of a journalist for him in British India. Thus, in 1882, he returned to India. Apart from being a journalist, Kipling wrote short stories and poems in his free time. Most of these works were then published in the local newspaper.

In the mid-1880s, he decided to travel along the USA and Asia to write travel essays. His works rapidly gained popularity and soon he could publish six books full of interesting stories. Finally, he settled in England, where he published the first novel. In London, the writer met a young American publisher Wolcott Balestier who helped him to work on the story “Naulakha”. In 1892, Balestier died of typhus and Rudyard decided to marry his sister. Together they spent a honeymoon in the USA and stayed there for the next four years. At that time, Kipling began writing stories for children - “The Jungle Book”. When they returned to England, he published the “Brave Explorers” novel.

During their stay in the US, the couple had two daughters, but one of them soon died of pneumonia. In the wake of her death he concentrated on collecting material for more stories about children. In 1901, the writer published one of his best books called “Kim”, and a year later “Just So Stories for Little Children”. Meanwhile, he bought a country house in Sussex, where he stayed till the end of his life. Along with literary work he got involved in politics. He wrote about the approaching war with Germany and supported the Conservative Party. During the World War I he lost his eldest son and his wife was gone to work for the Red

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