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The Brothers Grimm Biography
Fabulists
The German brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm spent years collecting and researching folk tales early in the 19th century. They published Children's and Household Tales in 1812, a collection which became known as "Grimm's Fairy Tales." The collection included what are now some of the world's most famous stories, including Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel and Rumpelstiltskin. Wilhelm married in 1825, but Jacob never wed and for most of his life lived in his brother's home. The brothers also began a German historical dictionary, the enormous Deutsches Worterbook, which ran to 16 volumes when it was finally completed by others in 1954.
Extra credit: The Brothers Grimm, a fictional thriller based (very) loosely on the brothers, was released in 2005. The film starred Matt Damon as Wilhelm and Heath Ledger as Jacob... The Grimm fairy tale Snow-White and Rose-Red was made into the animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves by Walt Disney. Disney also adapted Cinderella as an animated short in 1922 and a full feature in 1950.
Other famous storytellers include A.A. Milne, C.S. Lewis, Chris Van Allsburg and Philip Pullman.
Blog posts mentioning The Brothers Grimm:
Four Good Links
Grimm Brothers Home Page
Great starting place; detailed bios and related info
Grimm's Fairy Tales
The full stories, courtesy of Carnegie Mellon University
The Brothers Grimm
Multilingual site with background on the stories
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Special feature from National Geographic
Vital Stats
Birth
4 January 1785 (Jacob) and 24 February 1786 (Wilhelm)
Birthplace
Death
20 September 1863 (Jacob) and 16 December 1859 (Wilhelm)
(age 78)
Best Known As
Authors of Grimm's Fairy Tales