Bram Stoker (1847-1912), novelist, critic, and theatre manager, was born in Clontarf, Dublin. Stoker was often ill and bed-bound during his childhood, and his mother Charlotte would entertain his young imagination with supernatural tales. Stoker moved to London in 1879 to manage the Lyceum Theatre as an assistant to Henry Irving, a charismatic and popular actor. Through Irving he met some of the most important politicians, actors, and artists of the day, and was a well-known figure in London. His most famous work, the horror novel Dracula, popularised the myth of the blood-sucking, immortal vampire, and remains one of the most influential and widely-read Irish novels. Stoker died in 1912 in London, but Count Dracula lives on, spawning an endless litany of films, comics, and other adaptations.
