George MacDonald

George MacDonald was born on 10 December 1824 in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, to George MacDonald and Helen MacKay. He grew up among readers: an uncle, Mackintosh MacKay, was a Celtic scholar and collector of fairy tales, and his mother had received a classical education. Lung illness troubled him from childhood. He graduated from King's College, Aberdeen, in 1845 with a degree in chemistry and physics, and in 1848 began training for the Congregational ministry.

In 1850 he became a minister in Arundel, but his sermons on God's universal love met with little favour, his stipend was cut in half, and he resigned in 1853. He had married Louisa Powell in 1851, and they raised eleven children. After ill health and a stay in Algiers he settled in London and taught for a time at the University of London. He was a mentor to Lewis Carroll, whom MacDonald's advice, and his children's delight in the story, convinced to submit Alice for publication.

His best-known works are the fantasy novels Phantastes (1858), At the Back of the North Wind (1871), The Princess and the Goblin (1872) and Lilith (1895), and fairy tales such as "The Light Princess". He said he wrote "not for children, but for the child-like, whether they be of five, or fifty, or seventy-five."

From 1879 he lived for 20 years at Bordighera on the Italian Riviera. He died on 18 September 1905 in Ashtead, Surrey. He is often regarded as the founding father of modern fantasy writing, and C. S. Lewis called him his master.

Sources: wikipedia.org