Birthday profile

Paul Bowles

Paul Bowles, American composer and author (died 1999)

Born
December 30, 1910
Died
November 18, 1999
Zodiac sign
Capricorn
Birth year
1910

About Paul Bowles

Paul Frederic Bowles (; December 30, 1910 – November 18, 1999) was an American composer, author, and translator. He became associated with the Moroccan city of Tangier, where he settled in 1947 and lived for 52 years to the end of his life. Following a cultured middle-class upbringing in New York City, during which he displayed a talent for music and writing, Bowles pursued his education at the University of Virginia before making several trips to Paris in the 1930s. He studied music with Aaron Copland, and in New York wrote music for theatrical productions, as well as other compositions. He achieved critical and popular success with his first novel The Sheltering Sky (1949), set in French North Africa, which he had visited in 1931. In 1947, Bowles settled in Tangier, at that time in the Tangier International Zone, and his wife Jane Bowles followed in 1948. Except for winters spent in Ceylon during the early 1950s, Tangier was Bowles's home for the remainder of his life. He came to symbolize American immigrants in the city.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Paul Bowles timeline

  1. He became associated with the Moroccan city of Tangier, where he settled in 1947 and lived for 52 years to the end of his life.
  2. He achieved critical and popular success with his first novel The Sheltering Sky (1949), set in French North Africa, which he had visited in 1931.

The world when Paul Bowles was born

Paul Bowles was born in 1910. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1910

  • Best-selling book"The Rosary" – Florence L. Barclay

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJack Johnson defends heavyweight title, sparking nationwide debate
  • Top headlineBoy Scouts of America founded
  • Technology milestoneFirst neon lighting demonstrated in Paris
  • World population~1.7B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderWilliam Howard Taft
  • U.S. population92.2M

1910 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Paul Bowles's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19102026
Average home$3,395$435,000
Average income$574$67,500
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population92.2M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, MusicBrainz, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.