Charles Dickens was born in 1812 and became the most popular novelist of the Victorian era.

A prolific writer, he published more than a dozen novels in his lifetime, including Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and Hard Times, most of which have been adapted many times over for radio, stage and screen.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, on November 8, 1847, Bram Stoker published his first literary work, The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland, a handbook in legal administration, in 1879.

Turning to fiction later in life, Stoker published his masterpiece, Dracula, in 1897. Deemed a classic horror novel not long after its release, Dracula has continued to garner acclaim for more than a century, inspiring the creation of hundreds of film, theatrical and literary adaptations.

In addition to Dracula, Stoker published more than a dozen novels before his death in 1912.

Edith Nesbit was an English author and poet who was born in 1858.

As well as writing for children, she wrote poems, plays and was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society.

Her most famous works are The Railway Children and Five Children and It.

Hector Hugh Munro (1870 1916) was a British author best known by his pen name Saki.

Although he wrote two novels and several political sketches most notably The Westminster Alice, a parody authorized by Carroll's publishers it is his large output of satirical short stories for which he is remembered, and is still considered one of the masters of the genre.