Abraham “Bram” Stoker was born on the 8th of November, 1847 in Dublin, Ireland to Charlotte Thornley and Abraham Stoker. Growing up, Stoker had an unknown illness and was bedridden for most of his early childhood years. At the same time, Ireland was going through the Great Famine, which lasted until 1852, and led to mass starvation, illness, and emigration. While Stoker was sick, he went through an old practice known as bloodletting, and was not expected to live very long. Nevertheless, Stoker’s mother read him stories of Irish legend and history, most of which had very gothic themes. In the meantime, Stoker spent his illness observing his family through his windows. After the age of 7, when Stoker made a full recovery and was able to walk again, he attended Trinity university, where he proved to be very athletic despite his early challenges. He participated in soccer, shot put, weight-lifting, high and long jumping, gymnastics, and race-walking, and was known as sociable and a model student. Among Stoker’s highest achievements, he was recognized as the “Dublin University Athletic Sports Champion” in 1867. He also received awards for his grades. Many suspect that his academic achievements come from his early employment with the Civil Service, which Stoker went on to excel in as well. Civil Service is also where Stoker began to write his first short stories. 

However, Stoker resigned from his job in the Civil Service after writing his first book, which was a manuel titled The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland. Stoker resigned after meeting one of his closest friends who was an English actor named Sir Henry Irving, who invited him to manage the Lyceum Theatre in London, which was one of his main careers throughout his life. Before leaving Dublin for England, Stoker married a woman who was known as being one of the most beautiful women in Dublin, Florence Ann Lemon Balcombe. During his time managing the Lyceum Theatre, Stoker and Balcombe had their only son, Noel Thornley Stoker, in December of 1879. In 1897, Stoker finally wrote one of his most successful and most influential works, Dracula. Dracula was a gothic themed horror novel containing journal entries of fictional characters that have faced Count Dracula. It is rumored that Dracula was inspired by Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1872), which was one of the earliest Irish vampire stories written about a sapphic vampire named Carmilla and her love interest, Laura. In fact, Stoker wrote an entry in a newspaper owned by Le Fanu. In 1931, decades after Stoker’s death, Universal Studios turned Dracula into a blockbuster movie, which starred Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula. 

Annually, the Horror Writers Association hosts the Bram Stoker Awards, which is given to an author who has proven to be outstanding in the horror and dark fantasy genre. This began in 1987, 75 years after the death of Bram Stoker. So, it is true that Bram Stoker himself never won a Bram Stoker award. However, Bram Stoker has won multiple awards before his death, beginning when he attended Trinity University. Throughout the years, Trinity University has also begun giving out the Bram Stoker Gold Medal to those in the Historical Society, where Bram Stoker was president, who excel in their roles as historians. This award is very well named, because Stoker excelled in college, winning multiple awards both in academics and athletics. As previously mentioned, Stoker was recognized as the “Dublin University Athletic Sports Champion”, which he won by participating in multiple sports and being a star athlete. He later achieved a bachelor in arts degree in 1870 and a masters degree in arts in 1875. After writing Dracula, which was very successful, he surprisingly did not receive any awards, though Dracula remains one of the most influential horror novels of all time, inspiring many popular books, films, and shows.