1872 – Albert Payson Terhune, American author and dog breeder, known for his books about dogs.
1892 – Rebecca West, pen name of Cicely Isabel Fairfield, British author, journalist, literary critic, and travel writer who said, “People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.”
1905 – Anthony Powell, English novelist best known for his twelve-volume work A Dance to the Music of Time.
1917 – Heinrich Böll, Nobel Prize-winning German author whose is credited with renewing German literature through a “combination of a broad perspective on his time and a sensitive skill in characterization.”
1932 – Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy, award-winning Indian contemporary writer and critic in the Kannada language who was a fervent critic of nationalistic political parties and is considered a pioneer of the Navya movement.
1942 – Anthony Summers, Irish biographer, bestselling nonfiction author, and Pulitzer Prize finalist, who is also known for his conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Marilyn Monroe.
1975 – Jemele Juanita Hill, American sports journalist and columnist.