Daniel Defoe (1660-1730) was an English merchant, writer, journalist and even spy. He wrote on many different topics, both fiction and non-fiction. Robinson Crusoe is his best known novel. 

Daniel Defoe was born in 1660. His father was a butcher, and Daniel Defoe worked at a number of trades before he started to write, at the age of forty. He wrote poems and occasionally wrote criticism of the government. Sometimes he was sent to prison. When he was nearly sixty he wrote the story of Robinson Crusoe. It was a great success, and has been popular with children ever since.