Authors' Birthdays - Alphabetical

Through Jan 13th; May - July & September.

A

• Ada, Alma Flor (2 Jan 1938)
• Addison, Joseph (1 May 1672 - 1719): English poet and playwright, best known for the historical play Cato, a tragedy.
• Alger, Horatio, Jr. (13 Jan 1834): Massachusetts-born rags-to-riches author
• Alicati, Andreas (12 Jan 1492): Italian author
• Ames, Lee J. (8 Jan 1921)
• Anglund, Joan Walsh (3 Jan 1926)
• Armer, Laura Adams (12 Jan 1874 – 1963)
• Asimov, Isaac (2 Jan 1920 - 1992): Russian-born scientist and sci-fi writer
• Azuela, Mariano (1 Jan 1873 - 1952): Mexican novelist

B

• Blatty, William Peter (7 Jan 1928), NYC-born author of The Exorcist
• Bloom, Lloyd Bloom (10 Jan 1947)
• Bodecker, N. M. (13 Jan 1922)
• Bolognese, Don (6 Jan 1934)
• Bond, Nancy (8 Jan 1945)
• Bond, [Thomas] Michael (13 Jan 1926): British children's writer and Paddington Bear creator
• Bonsall, Crosby (2 Jan 1921 - 1995)
• Botev, Khristo (5 Jan 1848 – 1876): short-lived Bulgarian poet and revolutionary
• Bridie, James (3 Jan 1888 - 1951): Scottish dramatist
• Bulla, Clyde Robert (9 Jan 1914)
• Burke, Edmund (12 Jan 1729): Irish politician, orator, philosopher, author of many political pamphlets and essays
• Burleigh, Robert (4 Jan 1936)
• Burroughs, Edgar Rice (1 Sep 1875 - 1950): American novelist, most famous as the creator of Tarzan of the Apes.

C

• Calvin, John [Jean] (10 Jul 1509 – 27 May 1564): 2 released; - Calvin books on Project Gutenberg
• Capek, Karel (9 Jan 1890): Czech novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and essayist, authored the play "R.U.R."
• Charlip, Remy (10 Jan 1929)
• Cherry, Lynn (5 Jan 1952)
• Chorao, Kay (7 Jan 1937)
• Cicero, [Marcus Tullius] (2 Jan 106 B.C. - 43 B.C.): Roman author, essayist, and poet
• Cleaver, Vera (6 Jan 1919 – 1993)
• Clough, Arthur Hugh (1 Jan 1819 - 1861): English poet, whose first and best-known poem was The Bothie of Toberna-Vuolich
• Clymer, Eleanor (7 Jan 1906 - 2001)
• Collins, Wilkie [William] (8 Jan 1824 – 1889): Scottish novelist; most popular works are a mystery, The Woman in White (1860), and The Moonstone (1868), forerunner of the modern detective novel
• Cooper, Floyd (8 Jan 1956)
• Coppard, A[lfred] E[dgar] (4 Jan 1878): English poet and short story writer

D

• Danner, Margaret (12 Jan 1915): Kentucky-born African-American poet; many of whose poems focus on Africa, which she visited in 1966
• de Beauvoir, Simone (9 Jan 1908): French writer
• de Vere, Aubrey Thomas Hunt (10 Jan 1814): Irish poet, critic, and essayist
• De Voto, Bernard Augustine (11 Jan 1897): Utah-born novelist, historian, critic, known for works on Mark Twain and histories of the U.S. west
• Doctorow, E[dgar] L[awrence] (6 Jan 1931): NYC novelist, authored Ragtime
• Donelaitis, Kristijonas (1 Jan 1714 - 1780): Lithuanian poet
• Delessert, Etienne (4 Jan 1941)
• Durrell, Gerald Malcolm (7 Jan 1925 – 1995): British zoologist and writer; brother of Lawrence Durrell
• Durrenmatt, Friedrich (5 Jan 1921): Swiss playwright and novelist

E

• Eco, Umberto (5 Jan 1932): Italian novelist and critic
• Edgeworth, Maria (1 Jan 1767 - 1849): Anglo-Irish novelist (born Oxfordshire), whose work, including Castle Rackrent (1800) and Ormond (1817) presented lively tales of Irish life

F

• Finley, Mary Peace (10 Jan 1942)
• Forster, E[dward] M[organ] (1 Jan 1879 - 1970): English novelist and Ivory-Merchant film muse, whose novels, including A Room with a View (1908), Howard's End (1910), and A Passage to India (1924), pit honest emotion against the acceptable conventions of society
• Franklin, John Hope (2 Jan 1915): Oklahoma native, African American historian, biographer, and essayist, whose From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans (1947) is still considered the standard text on African American history
• Frazer, Sir James *[George] (1 Jan 1854 - 1941): Scottish classicist and anthropologist, who wrote The Golden Bough, 2 vols. 1890/12 vols. 1911-15)
• Freneau, Philip Morin (2 Jan 1752 - 1832): American poet and political gazette editor (born NYC of French Huguenot family), the first poet to use themes from American nature, anticipating the English romantics
• Fuller, Henry B[lake] (9 Jan 1857): Chicago realistic novelist

G

• Gauch, Patricial Lee (2 Jan 1934)
• Gibran, Khalil (6 Jan 1883 – 1931): Lebanese mystic poet (birthdates also listed as Dec. 6 and April 10)
• Goulart, Ron[ald Joseph] (13 Jan 1933): California-born mystery and sci-fi writer
• Grimm, Jakob Ludwig Carl (4 Jan 1785 – 1863): German librarian and philologist, and, with his brother Wilhelm, collector of Grimm's fairy tales (1812–1815)
• Gudmundsson, Tomas (6 Jan 1901): Icelandic poet
• Guild, Caroline Snowden Whitmarsh (1 Jun 1827 - ?), American Children's author

H

• Harrington, James (7 Jan 1611): English political author, wrote The Commonwealth of Oceana
• Hartley, Marsden (4 Jan 1877 – 1943): Maine native, painter and writer
• Hawking, Stephen [William] (8 Jan 1942): English physicist and author, whose 1988 A Brief History of Time: From Big Bang to Black Holes was a bestseller
• Haywood, Carolyn (2 Jan 1898 - 1990)
• Heilbrun, Carolyn (13 Jan 1926): aka Amanda Cross; New Jersey native non-fiction author and mystery writer
• Hirsh, Marilyn (1 Jan 1944)
• Ho, Minfong (7 Jan 1951)
• Hoffman, Rosekrans (7 Jan 1926)
• Howe, Helen (11 Jan 1905): American performer and novelist; born Boston
• Hurd, Clement (12 Jan 1908 – 1988)
• Hurston, Zora Neale (1891 - 1960): Harlem Renaissance folklorist and author, best known for novel Their Eyes Were Watching God

J

• James, William (11 Jan 1842): NYC native, philosopher, psychologist, and older brother of novelist Henry James; penned The Principles of Psychology (1890)
• Jameson, [Margaret] Storm (8 Jan 1891): English novelist
• Jeffers, John Robinson (10 Jan 1887 – 20 Jan 1962): American poet, known for his work about the central California coast
• Jerrold, Douglas William (3 Jan 1803 - 1857): London author and playwright

K

• Kessler, Ethel (7 Jan 1922)
• Krahn, Fernando (4 Jan 1935)

L

• La Rochelle, Pierre Drieu (3 Jan 1893 - 1945): French novelist and essayist
• Lee, Manfred B. (11 Jan 1905): co-creator, with his cousin Frederic Dunnay, of Ellery Queen
• Levine, Philip (10 Jan 1928): Detroit-born poet
• Little, Jean (2 Jan 1932)
• London, Jack (12 Jan 1876 – 1916): San Francisco writer and socialist

M

• Maestro, Betsy (5 Jan 1944)
• Manes, Stephen (8 Jan 1949)
• McInerney, Jay (13 Jan 1955): Bright Lights, Big City author
• Michaels, Leonard (2 Jan 1933): NYC-born novelist, and short story writer
• Morris, Wright (6 Jan 1910 – 1998): Nebraska-born novelist, short story writer, and photographer, who wrote Love Among Cannibals
• Mosley, Walter (12 Jan 1952): Los Angeles-born detective writer
• Munoz, William (12 Jan 1949)
• Murakami, Haruki (12 Jan 1949): Japanese novelist (born Kyoto); wrote Hear the Wind Sing and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, among others

N

• Nathan, Robert (2 Jan 1894 - 1985): NYC poet and novelist, wrote Portrait of Jennie (1940)
• Naylor, Phylllis Reynolds (4 Jan 1933)
• Ngugi wa Thiong'o (5 Jan 1938) aka James T. Nguhi: Kenyan novelist, dramatist, and critic; a significant East African writer
• Nielsen, Morten (3 Jan 1922 - 1944): short-lived Danish poet and resistance fighter
• Nwapa, Flora (13 Jan 1931 - 1993): Nigerian novelist and short story writer; one of the first African women to publish in English

O

• O'Brien, Robert C. (11 Jan 1918–1973)
• Otfinoski, Steven (11 Jan 1949-)
• Ousmane, Sembene (8 Jan 1923): Senegalese novelist and screenwriter, renowned for his films and novels addressing social wrongs in post-colonial Africa

P

• Paton, Alan (11 Jan 1903): South African writer, authored Cry, the Beloved Country
• Peguy, Charles (7 Jan 1873 – 1914): French Roman Catholic socialist writer and poet, authored essay "Sinners and Saints"
• Perrault, Charles (12 Jan 1628 - 1703): French lawyer and writer of Mother Goose tales, such as "Puss in Boots" and "Little Red Riding Hood"
• Piatti, Celestino (5 Jan 1922)
• Priceman, Marjorie (8 Jan 1958-)
• Purdy, Carol (5 Jan 1943)

R

• Rabe, Berniece (11 Jan 1928)
• Rice, Alice Caldwell Hegan (11 Jan 1870): Kentucky-born novelist; wrote the bestselling Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1901)
• Robertson, Thomas William (9 Jan 1829): English comedic playwright
• Rodgers, Mary (11 Jan 1931)
• Rostkowski, Margaret (12 Jan 1945)

S

• Salinger, J[erome] D[avid] (1 Jan 1919): NYC-born recluse, best known for The Catcher in the Rye
• Sand, George (1 Jul 1804 - 1876): French novelist - Sand books on Project Gutenberg
• Sandburg, Carl (6 Jan 1878 – 1967)
• Scott, Leonard B. (2 Jan 1948): German-born novelist
• Scott, William (2 Jan 1914): Wisconsin-born novelist and poet
• Seibold, J. Otto (3 Jan 1960)
• Shiki, Masaolka (17 Sep 1867- ), none released;
• Slepian, Jan[ice] (2 Jan 1921): NYC-born writer of young adult novels
• Snodgrass, W[illiam] D[e Witt] (5 Jan 1926): won the Pulitzer Prize in 1959
• Soentpiet, Chris K. (3 Jan 1970)

T

• Tolkien, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] (3 Jan 1892 - 1973): South African fantasy writer
• Tompert, Ann (11 Jan 1918)

U

• Ure, Jean (1 Jan 1943): British children's book author

V

• Vilakazi, Benedict Wallet (6 Jan 1906): South African Zulu poet, novelist, and educator
• von Bauernfeld, Eduard (13 Jan 1802): Viennese comedic playwright

W

• Warton, Thomas (9 Jan 1728): English poet and author of the first history of English poetry
• Watts, Alan (6 Jan 1915 – 1973): English writer and interpreter of Zen Buddhism
• Williams, Barbara (1 Jan 1925)
• Williams, Linda (6 Jan 1948)
• Wiseman, David (13 Jan 1916)
• Wister, Owen (14 Jul 1860 - 1938): American Novelist

Z

• Zrinyi, Count Miklos (5 Jan 1620): Hungarian poet