Rudyard Kipling was an English writer born in British-controlled India in 1865. He is known for his prolific career that shaped English-language literature, but he is also a controversial figure criticized for his imperialist and racist views. 

Kipling grew up in India until the age of five when he was sent back to the United Kingdom to receive an education. He lived with his younger sister in an abusive foster home and later attended a boarding school. At 16, he returned to India and worked at various local newspapers. Kipling was primarily a journalist for Lahore’s Civil and Military Gazette, but the paper also published dozens of Kipling’s short stories over the years. During this time, Kipling wrote obsessively and prolifically, publishing six collections of short stories in 1888 alone. 

In 1889, Kipling decided to move back to London. First, however, he spent some months traveling across Asia and the United States, where he made his way from California up the west coast to Seattle, Washington, and eventually east to New York. Kipling had returned to England by the end of 1889 and was married in 1892. The newlyweds moved to the United States and rented a small cabin in Vermont, where their first daughter was born later that year.