Andrew Lang Biography

Andrew Lang was a Scottish writer and literary critic best known for collecting folk and fairy tales and publishing them in a series. He also wrote poems and novels, and was a great writer in his own right but it was his collection of fairy tales that earned him such wide spread popularity and not his own literary works. Lang’s fascination with folklore stemmed from his own childhood days spent in the picturesque Scottish Borderland of Selkirk which was a beautiful and dreamy place which kindled his imagination. Reading Grimm’s Fairy Tales in the peaceful woods and the rustic charms of village life further motivated him to delve deeper into the magic and myth of folklores. He studied to become a journalist and worked as an editor for the ‘Longman’s Magazine’. Blessed with a dry wit and sarcastic sense of humor, he became well known for the articles he wrote for the magazine. He also wrote his own poetry and fiction, but the childhood fascination with fairy tales never left him. He meticulously collected fairy tales and folklores from far and wide and published them in a series for his readers. His series became immensely popular with the children and revolutionized children’s literature.