Born: December 30, 1865, Bombay, India.
Died: January 18, 1936, London, England.
Awarded the Nobel prize in literature, 1907.
Parents: Lockwood and Alice Kipling.
Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India, where his father was an arts and crafts teacher and his mother was a sister-in-law of the painter Edward Burne-Jones. India was at that time still part of the British Commonwealth. At the age of six he was taken back to England where he began his studies. In 1878 Kipling entered United Services College, a boarding school in North Devon. It was an expensive institution that specialized in training for entry into military academies. As it was in fashion at that time to become a soldier or moreover an officer at the great British Army, Kipling wanted to become a soldier. But his bad eyesight halted any of his efforts. After being unsuccessful at the entry exams, Kipling returned back to India where he worked as a journalist for the Civil and Military Gazette (1882-87) and an assistant editor and overseas correspondent in Allahabad for Pioneer (1887-89). During his stay in India he wrote short stories that were published as the THE PHANTOM RICKSHAW. But before this collection he published his debut called the Departmental Ditties (1886), but subsequently he became chiefly known as a writer of short stories. Kipling soon became a famous and recognized author. He became the poet of the British Empire.
In 1892 Kipling returned back to London where he married Caroline Starr Balestier. They decided to move to Vermont, US where their daughter was born. But she soon died and Kipling decided to move back to London. The death of his daughter affected him very much and he withdrew from the scene. But after a while he proceeded his writing and wrote some of his most famous stories such as the, MANY INVENTIONS (1893), JUNGLE BOOK (1894), THE SECOND JUNGLE BOOK (1895), and THE SEVEN SEAS (1896). However, some people in Britain found his poetry distasteful and Kipling was accused of jingoism by those hostile to imperialism.
After the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899 he traveled to South Africa where he worked with the wounded and produced a newspaper for the troops.
In 1901 Kipling published the best-selling novel, Kim. At this time Kipling becomes really popular and begins receiving prizes for his work. The most important is the Nobel Prize which he obtained in 1907. Kipling was the recipient of many honorary degrees and other awards.

In 1926 he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Literature, which only Scott, Meredith, and Hardy had been awarded before him.
Kipling died on January 18, 1936 in London, and was buried in Poet's Corner at Westminster Abbey. Kipling's autobiography, SOMETHING OF MYSELF, appeared posthumously in 1937.
Samples:
Kim
Chapter 8
Something I owe to the soil that grew - More to the life that fed -
But most to Allah Who gave me two
Separate sides to my head.
I would go without shirts or shoes, Friends, tobacco or bread
Sooner than for an instant lose
Either side of my head.'
The Two-Sided Man.
'Then in God's name take blue for red,' said Mahbub, alluding to the Hindu colour of Kim's disreputable turban.
Kim countered with the old proverb, 'I will change my faith and my bedding, but thou must pay for it.'
The dealer laughed till he nearly fell from his horse. At a shop on the outskirts of the city the change was made, and Kim stood up, externally at least, a Mohammedan.
Mahbub hired a room over against the railway station, sent for a cooked meal of the finest with the almond-curd sweet-meats [balushai we call it] and fine-chopped Lucknow tobacco.
'This is better than some other meat that I ate with the Sikh,' said Kim, grinning as he squatted, 'and assuredly they give no such victuals at my madrissah.'
'I have a desire to hear of that same madrissah.' Mahbub stuffed himself with great boluses of spiced mutton fried in fat with cabbage and golden-brown onions. 'But tell me first, altogether and truthfully, the manner of thy escape. For, O Friend of all the World,' - he loosed his cracking belt - 'I do not think it is often that a Sahib and the son of a Sahib runs away from there.'
'How should they? They do not know the land. It was nothing,' said Kim, and began his tale. When he came to the disguisement and the interview with the girl in the bazar, Mahbub Ali's gravity went from him.

He laughed aloud and beat his hand on his thigh.
'Shabash! Shabash! Oh, well done, little one! What will the healer of turquoises say to this? Now, slowly, let us hear what befell afterwards - step by step, omitting nothing.'
Step by step then, Kim told his adventures between coughs as the full-flavoured tobacco caught his lungs.
FORD O' KABUL RIVER

Kabul town's by Kabul river --
Blow the bugle, draw the sword --
There I lef' my mate for ever,
Wet an' drippin' by the ford.
Ford, ford, ford o' Kabul river,
Ford o' Kabul river in the dark!
There's the river up and brimmin', an' there's 'arf a squadron swimmin'
'Cross the ford o' Kabul river in the dark.

Kabul town's a blasted place --
Blow the bugle, draw the sword --
'Strewth I sha'n't forget 'is face
Wet an' drippin' by the ford!
Ford, ford, ford o' Kabul river,
Ford o' Kabul river in the dark!
Keep the crossing-stakes beside you, an' they will surely guide you
'Cross the ford o' Kabul river in the dark.
How the Camel Got His Hump
NOW this is the next tale, and it tells how the Camel got his big hump.
In the beginning of years, when the world was so new and all, and the Animals were just beginning to work for Man, there was a Camel, and he lived in the middle of a Howling Desert because he did not want to work; and besides, he was a Howler himself. So he ate sticks and thorns and tamarisks and milkweed and prickles, most 'scruciating idle; and when anybody spoke to him he said 'Humph!' Just 'Humph!' and no more.
Presently the Horse came to him on Monday morning, with a saddle on his back and a bit in his mouth, and said, 'Camel, O Camel, come out and trot like the rest of us.'
'Humph!' said the Camel; and the Horse went away and told the Man.
Presently the Dog came to him, with a stick in his mouth, and said, 'Camel, O Camel, come and fetch and carry like the rest of us.'
'Humph!' said the Camel; and the Dog went away and told the Man.

Quotes by Rudyard Kipling
A woman's guess is much more accurate than a man's certainty.
We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.
Take my word for it, the silliest woman can manage a clever man; but it takes a very clever woman to manage a fool.

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Rudyard Kipling biography