1640 – Amalia Katharina of Waldeck-Eisenberg (Countess of Erbach-Erbach), German poet and composer.
1863 – Florence Augusta Merriam Bailey, American ornithologist, naturalist, zoologist, and writer who wrote nature guides, including the first modern field guide to birds; she also organized early Audobon Society chapters and was an activist for bird protection.
1884 – Sara Teasdale, American lyric poet who won the Columbia University Poetry Society Prize, which later became known as the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
1896 – Marjorie Rawlings, Pulitzer Prize-winning American author whose best-known work was The Yearling, a young-adult novel written before works for young adults were considered a separate genre.
1922 – Gertrude Himmelfarb, Jewish American author, essayist, and conservative “historian of ideals” who wrote on the need for Victorian-era morals to invigorate contemporary social policies.
1927 – Maia Wojciechowska, Newbery Award-winning Polish-born American author of children’s and young adult books who also wrote under the name Maia Rodman. In addition to writing, she spent time as a matador, an undercover detective, and a motorcycle racer; by age 11 she had parachuted out of an airplane three times; at age 12 she fled the Nazis through Romania and Italy to reach France, where her father was chief of staff of the Polish air force.
1952 – Robin Ophelia Quivers, American radio personality, author, and actress, best known as the long-running news anchor and co-host of The Howard Stern Show.
1952 – Valerie Sayers, American novelist, short-story writer, essayist, critic, and professor.
1954 – Elizabeth Ann Tallent, Pushcart Prize-winning American short-story writer, professor, and critic, known for her poetic style, vivid settings, and complex themes.
1964 – Anastasia M. Ashman, American author who resides in Turkey and writes on ex-pat women’s issues.
1983 – Hitomi Kanehara, award-winning Japanese novelist, best known for her bestselling book Hebi ni piasu (Snakes and Earrings).
