Oscar Fingal O'Flaherty Wills Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He studied at Trinity College Dublin and then at Magdalen College Oxford where he started the cult of Aestheticism, which involves making an art of life. Following his marriage to Constance Lloyd in 1884, he published several books of stories ostensibly for children and one novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1891). Wilde's first success as a playwright was with "Lady Windemere's Fan" in 1892. He followed this up with "A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband," and "The Importance of Being Earnest," all performed on the London stage between 1892 and 1895. However, Wilde's homosexual relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas was exposed by the young man's father, the Marquis of Queensbury. Wilde brought a libel suit against Queensbury but lost and was sentenced to two years imprisonment. He was released in 1897 and fled to France where he died a broken man in 1900.

The Happy Prince; The Nightingale and the Rose; The Selfish Giant; The Devoted Friend; The Remarkable Rocket; Lord Arthur Savile's Crime; The Model Millionaire; The Sphinx without a Secret; The Canterville Ghost; The Young King; The Birthday of the Infanta; The Fisherman and his Soul; The Star-Child.