Bram Stoker

Born in Dublin in 1847, Abraham "Bram" Stoker studied mathematics at Trinity College before beginning a career in the Irish civil service. He later became a theater critic and, in 1878, moved to London to manage the Lyceum Theatre for actor Henry Irving. Stoker’s literary output includes several novels and short stories, but his enduring fame rests on Dracula (1897), an epistolary Gothic novel that synthesized folklore, contemporary anxieties, and Victorian sensibilities into the definitive vampire narrative. The novel’s influence on horror literature and popular culture is immense, establishing tropes such as the charismatic undead count, vampire hunters, and the use of garlic and crucifixes. Stoker continued writing until his death in 1912, but Dracula remains his singular masterpiece, a work that has inspired countless adaptations and secured his place in literary history.