1778 – William Hazlitt, English writer, drama, literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher.
1835 – Henry Villard, German-born American journalist, financier, and railroad president.
1847 – Joseph Pulitzer, Hungarian-born American newspaper publisher; the Pulitzer Prize is named after him.
1867 – George William Russell, Irish poet, theosophist, artist, and political activist.
1890 – Mary Buff, American children’s book author who, with wrote with her illustrator husband Conrad; the two were four-time runners-up for the Caldecott or Newbery medals.
1903 – Clare Turlay Newberry, American children’s book author of four Caldecott Honor books.
1910 – Margaret Clapp, Pulitzer Prize-winning American scholar, author, and biographer.
1934 – David Halberstam, American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose nonfiction featured politics and sports.
1934 – Richard Peck, Newbery Medal-winning American young-adult novelist; after leaving a job teaching junior-high English, he began writing, and wrote 41 books over the next 41 years.
1939 – Claudio Magris, Italian scholar, translator, and writer who was popular in much of Europe.
1940 – Clark Blaise, Canadian/American author, professor, essayist, and short-story writer; he is married to novelist Bharati Mukherjee.
1941 – Paul Theroux, American travel writer and novelist.
1947 – David Adler, American author of children’s and young-adult books, most notably the Cam Jansen series.
1954 – Anne Lamott, American novelist, nonfiction writer, essayist, memoirist, and political activist.
1957 – John Michael Ford, American science-fiction and fantasy writer and poet.
1962 – Dani Shapiro, novelist, memoirist, and magazine writer.
1963 – Peter Morgan, British playwright and screenwriter.
