1903 – Marcia Davenport, American novelist, Mozart biographer, and music critic.
1925 – Keith Laumer, American science-fiction author, short-story writer, comic book author, Air Force officer, and diplomat.
1939 – Charles Webb, American author best known for the novel The Graduate, which was made into the popular movie of the same name.
1943 – Joe Haldeman, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning American science-fiction author who has been named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America and has been inducted as a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame; some of his books were inspired by his experiences serving in the Vietnam War.
1946 – James Kelman, Booker Prize-winning Scottish novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and essayist.
1954 – Gregory Maguire, American novelist and children’s writer who often takes inspiration from fairy tales and other classic children’s stories; his best known work is Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, based on the Wizard of Oz character.
1956 – Patricia Cornwell, bestselling American crime writer whose main character is Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner; Cornwell is a descendant of abolitionist and writer Harriet Beecher Stowe.
1958 – Tony Horwitz, Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and author.
1961 – Michael J. Fox, popular, award-winning American actor, author, and memoirist whose early-onset Parkinson’s Disease has inspired him to be an advocate for research toward finding a cure.
