About A. E. van Vogt
Alfred Elton van Vogt ( VAN VOHKT; April 26, 1912 – January 26, 2000) was a Canadian-born American science fiction writer. His fragmented, bizarre narrative style influenced later science fiction writers, including Philip K. Dick. He was one of the most popular and influential practitioners of science fiction in the mid-twentieth century, the genre's so-called Golden Age, and one of the most complex. The Science Fiction Writers of America named him their 14th Grand Master in 1995 (presented 1996). == Biography == === Early life === Alfred Vogt (both "Elton" and "van" were added much later) was born on April 26, 1912, on his grandparents' farm in Edenburg, Manitoba, a tiny (and now defunct) Russian Mennonite community east of Gretna, Manitoba, Canada, in the Mennonite West Reserve. He was the third of six children born to Heinrich "Henry" Vogt and Aganetha "Agnes" Vogt (née Buhr), both of whom were born in Manitoba and grew up in heavily immigrant communities. Until he was four, van Vogt spoke only Plautdietsch at home. For the first dozen or so years of his life, van Vogt's father, Henry Vogt, a lawyer, moved his family several times within the Prairies, moving to Neville, Saskatchewan; Swift Current, Saskatchewan, and Morden, Manitoba where he lived from 1922 to 1926, before moving to Winnipeg for high school. Alfred Vogt found these moves difficult, later remarking: Childhood was a terrible period for me. I was like a ship without anchor being swept along through darkness in a storm.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.