Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula. Born on November 8, 1847 in Dublin, Ireland, Stoker excelled as an athlete at Trinity College, Dublin, which he attended from 1864 to 1870. Stoker became interested in the theatre while a student and became the theatre critic for the Dublin Evening Mail. In 1878, Stoker married Florence Balcombe, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel James Balcombe and together they moved to London, where Stoker became acting manager and then business manager of Irving’s Lyceum Theatre, London, a post he held for twenty-seven years. While manager for Irving and secretary and director of London’s Lyceum Theatre, he began writing novels, beginning with The Snake’s Pass in 1890 and Dracula in 1897. After suffering a number of strokes, Stoker died on 20 April 1912.