Igor Fyodorovicch Stravinsky was born in Oranienbaum (now Lomonosov) Russia on 5 June (now 18 June) 1882.  His formal baptism took place in St Petersburg.
When the first World War and Bolshevik revolution made journeys difficult, he moved to Switzerland in 1914 and then to Paris in June 1920.  From 1914 to the mid thirties Ernest Ansermet was one of Stravinsky's closest musician friends.  Stravinsky arrived in New York on 30 September 1939 and spent much of the rest of his life in the United States. He died 6 April 1971 in Switzerland.

During his period in Switzerland and France, there was significant collaboration with Diaghilev and Mme Nijinska of the Russian Ballet.  These works, e.g. The Right of Spring were seminal for music and ballet development in the twentieth century.

Some useful books are:
"Stravinsky in Pictures and Documents" by Vera Stravinsky and Robert Craft (ISBN 0 09 138000 6 published by Hutchinson & Co)
"Catherine & Igor Stravinsky - A Family Album" by Theodore Stravinsky (ISBN 0 85162 008 6 published by Boosey & Hawkes)
"Stravinsky in the Theatre" various authors, edited by Minna Lederman (ISBN 0 306 80022 5 published by Da Capo)

His major works include:
L'Oiseau de Feu  (The Firebird) [1910] On 25 June 1910, Diaghilev's Russian Ballet gave the first performance at the Paris Opera House.   Overnight Stravinsky became an international figure.
Petrouchka (Petrushka) [1911] Pierre Montreux conducted the first performance.  Petrushka is set in the Shrove tide fair in St Petersburg during the 1830s. Three puppets (Petrushka, the Moor and the ballerina) perform a Russian dance, at first still on their hooks under the control of the showman in the booth, but later coming out into the square amongst the bystanders.  The ugly Petrushka (modelled on the showman) falls in love with the ballerina, but she is frightened away. A love scene between the ballerina and the Moor is interrupted by a jealous Petrushka, who is chased and killed by the Moor.  The crowd cannot believe they are just puppets and the police are called.  Finally Petrushka appears as a ghost on top of the booth and makes grimaces at the showman.
Le Sacre du Printemps (The Right of Spring) [1913] The third ballet for Diaghilev from an idea that pre-dates the Firebird. Pagan elders sit in a circle watching a young girl dance herself to death as a sacrifice to propitiate the god of Spring. Nijinsky did the choreography and the work was premiered in the Theatre de Champs-Elysees, Paris on 18 March 1913.  So great was the uproar that not even the dancers could hear the music.  Perhaps best known today in the context of Walt Disney's Fantasia.
Les Noces (The Wedding) [1917] - A product of the Russian church, invocations to the Virgin and Saints are heard throughout the work. "When I first played Les Noces to Sergei Diaghilev ... he wept and said it was the most beautiful and most purely Russian creation of our Ballet."
L'Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier's Tale) [1918] Born out of forced economy at a time of moral, physical and financial bankruptcy.  Joseph, a soldier returning home on leave, is tricked by the devil into exchanging his fiddle for a book that tells the future.  Joseph goes home with old nick to teach him how to play. He thinks he has been gone three days but the devil has kept him three years.  He returns home, but his girl friend is married with two children and his mother screams as she sees him - a ghost. Joseph decides to go off and make his fortune, but he is not satisfied.  He takes on the devil at a game of cards (the seed for the ballet in 1936?) and lets the devil win - he is free again.  Joseph marries a princess and all goes well until one day....
Ragtime [1918] - the first European piece to be use ragtime. It was completed at 11:00 on 11 November - the same instant as the Armistice.
Pulcinella [1920] Ballet with songs in one act after Pergolesi (a Neapolitan composer 1710 - 1736). The plot is a typical Neapolitan disguise comedy - "A thinks B is C" and the songs are "random", the words having nothing to do with the action.
Mavra [1922] Tchaikovskyan in period and style -"I wanted to show a different Russia to my non-Russian, and especially to my French, colleagues... I was in fact protesting against the picturesque in Russian music..."
Renard [1922] First performed by the Diaghilev company under the baton of Ernest Ansermet at the Paris Opera on 3 June 1922.  The story is some Russian folklore translated into colloquial French by C F Ramuz.  The cock proclaims his authority from his perch, but the fox enters dressed in religious costume and beseeches the cock to come down from his perch and confess his sins.  The cock jumps down and is captured by the fox.  The cock calls for help from the cat and goat, who effect a rescue. The fox re-appears and resorts to flattery and bribery.  Eventually the cock is tempted and the fox drags him off before anyone can help.  The cat and goat eventually convince the fox that his wife is being unfaithful. He is caught off guard, pounced upon and strangled.  The cock, cat and goat then dance and ask the audience for a token of gratitude if the tale has pleased them.
Oedipus Rex [1925] Libretto by Jean Cocteau, based on Sophocles, sung in Latin with a French narrator.  Oedipus by fate, but un-knowingly kills his own father, the king and marries his own mother.  Vale, Oedipus, te amabam, te miseror. Miseror Oedipus [Farewell Oedipus, we loved you. You were loved]. The music is pure neo-classical. 
Apollon Misagetes (Apollo) [1927]
Le Baiser de la Fee (The Fairy's Kiss) [1928] Tchaikovsky tunes in the thirty fifth anniversary year of his death.
Capriccio [1929]
Symphonie de Psaumes (Symphony of Psalms) [1930] Was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Jeu de Cartes (A Game of Cards) [1936] Picks up influences from Rossini, Verdi, Ravel, Weber, Haydn, Tchaikovsky & Viennese waltzes imposed on a neo classical framework.  It plays out the allegory of good triumphing over evil in an abstract sense. 
Symphony in C [1940] Commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  The predominant rhythmic figure is from Beethoven's Fifth but the poly harmonic sonata form is expressed without its balance of tonality.
Symphony in Three Movements [1945]
Agon [1957] Composed in Hollywood and Venice and premiered in Los Angeles. Modelled on examples of French dance manual of the seventeenth century.