Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) was a British author, poet, and journalist best known for his fiction set in British India. Born in Bombay (now Mumbai), he spent the early years of his childhood immersed in the sights, languages, and rhythms of the subcontinent. At the age of six, Kipling was sent to England for schooling, an experience that would later inform his writings on exile and belonging. After returning to India in the 1880s, he worked as a journalist in Lahore and Allahabad, where his literary career began with short stories that captured Anglo-Indian life.
Kipling gained international fame with works like Plain Tales from the Hills (1888), The Jungle Book (1894), and Kim (1901), which combined vivid storytelling with detailed portrayals of colonial settings. In 1907, he became the first English-language writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. Though admired for his narrative craft and descriptive flair, his works have also been critiqued for endorsing imperial ideologies. Kipling’s literary legacy remains both influential and controversial. He died in London in 1936 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
