An Irish transplant to England in the Victorian era, Bram Stoker wrote one of the most iconic gothic horror novels, Dracula. Having published one of the most recognizable works in the English canon, Stoker fundamentally shaped the vampire myth and the gothic horror genre.
Bram Stoker was born in Ireland in 1847. A sickly child, he was bedridden for much of his youth. His mother kept him company by telling Irish folk tales, many of which were gothic in nature and likely helped foster his appreciation for the horror genre. Making a remarkable recovery in his late teens, he studied at Trinity college of Dublin. Later, he moved to England and began writing theater reviews. His careful analysis of stage performance piqued the interest of Henry Irving, a famous English stage actor. The two men shared a lifelong friendship, with Stoker becoming manager at Irving’s Lyceum Theater. During his time working at the theater, Stoker started writing novels. Far and away, his most successful novel was Dracula, though he wrote ten novels and two novellas total in his career. Dracula was a near immediate success upon its publication in 1897, a gothic horror that successfully tapped into the fears of the Victorian era.  Dracula punctured the western consciousness, sparking hundreds of adaptations and books inspired by the novel. While Stoker did not invent the vampire myth, he is responsible for popularizing and shaping the myth to the extreme recognition it has today.
Stoker enjoyed a warm family life and the fame he received for his iconic novel. He passed away in 1912 in London.