Bram Stoker

Abraham “Bram” Stoker (1847-1912) was born in Dublin, Ireland. Despite being bedridden with an unknown illness until age 7, he grew into an excellent athlete and student, graduating with honors from Trinity College, Dublin in mathematics.

After a brief civil service career, Stoker became drama critic for the Dublin Evening Mail. This led to a friendship with actor Henry Irving and a 27-year career managing Irving’s Lyceum Theatre in London starting in 1878.

As a writer, Stoker started with non-fiction and short stories in the 1870s before publishing his first novel, “The Snake’s Pass,” in 1890. But his masterpiece came in 1897 with “Dracula,” an epistolary horror novel that introduced the world to the iconic vampire Count Dracula. With its deft blend of Victorian anxieties, adventure, and Gothic imagination, “Dracula” has shaped vampire lore ever since.

Other notable Stoker works include “The Jewel of Seven Stars” (1903), “The Lady of the Shroud” (1909), and the story collection “Dracula’s Guest and Other Weird Stories” (1914), published posthumously. Recurring themes include the supernatural, curses, hidden evils revealed, and Victorian fears of the foreign “other.”

Stoker married actress Florence Balcombe in 1878, living mainly in London and at Torcraig in Scotland. Poor health plagued his final years, and he died in 1912. But his literary legacy, especially “Dracula,” has proven immortal, inspiring countless adaptations and cementing his place as a pioneer of horror fiction.