Rudyard Kipling Biography

Fast Facts

• In 1907, he became both the first English-language writer and the youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, which he accepted, although he later turned down offers of a British Poet Laureateship and a knighthood
• By the time he reached the age of 32, he was the highest-paid writer in the world
• His first published work was a collection of short stories he wrote about his adventures in India called "Plain Tales from the Hills․"
• Discovered a talent for writing as a teenager when he became the editor of his school's newspaper, and was further inspired when he was sent back to India in 1882
• Spent his early years living in India, a place he would love all his life, with his parents and sister before being sent to live with a foster family at the age of 6 so he could receive a formal British education
• Quote: "I am, by calling, a dealer in words; and words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind․"
• Best known as a poet and novelist who wrote "The Jungle Book," "The Man Who Would Be King," and "The White Man's Burden․"
• Spent several years living in Brattleboro, Vermont, where he would be inspired by his own children to write several classic tales, including "The Jungle Book," "The Second Jungle Book," and "The Naulahka: A Story of the West and East․"
• In 1902, he published a collection titled "Just So Stories," partly as a tribute to his late daughter, Josephine, for whom the bedtime stories had been written
• Was friends with the American agent and publisher Wolcott Balestier, whose sister, Carrie, he would later marry in 1892