Washington Irving

If you have been in love with the character of Rip Van Winkle since you were an adolescent, you need to thank Washington Irving time and again for helping you escape into the world of fantasy, leaving aside the realities of life. The creator of the character, Irving was an American author and essayist of the early 19th century who shot to fame with the famous short story, ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’. Irving’s got interested in writing at an early age. He started off by writing a series of observational letters to the Morning Chronicle. It was when he relocated to England that he penned his debut book, ‘The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent’. The book brought him international fame and reputation. It was superlative success of his debut venture that led him to continue his writing spree. Interestingly, all his publications were a major hit and contributed to his success. Other than short stories and essays, he also penned biographies of well-known and eminent world personalities like Oliver Goldsmith and George Washington, the latter of which extended to five volumes. In his lifetime, he also served as US Ambassador to Spain from 1842 to 1846. All his life, he worked for making writing a legitimate profession. He even worked to bring up strong laws to protect the writers from copyright problems.