| Salma El-Sharkawy |
American writer, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He was born on April 3, 1783, in New York City, USA. His historical works include biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad and George Washington, as well as several histories of 15th-century Spain that deal with subjects such as the Alhambra, Christopher Columbus and the Moors. Irving served as the American ambassador to Spain in the 1840s. His literary debut was in 1802, with a series of observational letters written under the name of Jonathan Oldstyle. He achieved fame with "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820), both of which appear in his collection "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon Gent". He continued to publish regularly throughout his life, and he completed a five-volume biography of George Washington just eight months before his death at age 76 on November 28, 1859 in Tarrytown, New York, USA. He was also admired by some British writers, such as Lord Byron, Thomas Campbell, and Charles Dickens.
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