1836 – Bret Harte, American author and poet, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California.
1850 – Edgar Wilson Nye, American journalist, humorist, and newspaper founder; he sometimes used the pen name “Bill Nye,” after a character in a famous poem by another August 25 birthday writer, Bret Harte.
1889 – William Feather, American journalist, magazine publisher, and nonfiction author who was also known for his aphorisms (known as “featherisms”).
1899 – Paul Herman Buck, Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian and professor.
1913 – Walt Kelly, American animator, cartoonist, and writer who was best known for Pogo but who also worked for Disney.
1921 – Brian Moore, Northern Irish novelist and screenwriter, known for his depictions of life in Northern Ireland after WWII; he was described in the L.A. Times as “one of the few genuine masters of the contemporary novel.”
1923 – Dorothy Dunnett, Scottish author of historical novels and detective novels; she was also a portrait painter and a sculptor.
1925 – Thea Astley, prolific and acclaimed Australian novelist and short story writer.
1933 – Patrick McManus, American humor writer whose columns focusing on the outdoors have been gathered into popular books.
1935 – Charles Wright, U.S. Poet Laureate and winner of both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
1937 – Virginia Euwer Wolff, American author of children’s books, most well known for her “Make Lemonade” series.
1938 – Frederick Forsyth, bestselling English author of thriller novels who is also an occasional political commentator..
1939 – Marshall Brickman, Brazilian-born American screenwriter, best known for his collaborations with director/screenwriter Woody Allen and for a series of comical parodies published in The New Yorker
1942 – Howard Jacobsen, Booker Prize-winning British author, broadcaster, and journalist.
1946 – Charles Ghigna, American author of children’s books who also goes by the name Father Goose.
1949 – Martin Amis, British novelist, short-story author, and nonfiction writer who is the son of celebrated author Kingsley Amis.
1959 – Ian Falconer, American children’s book author and illustrator, best known for his Olivia books; he also designs theater costumes and sets.
1959 – Lane Smith, American children’s book author and illustrator, best known for his collaborations with author Jon Scieszka.
1962 – Taslima Nasrin, Bangladeshi author, poet, and former physician who has lived in exile since 1994
1967 – Laura Anne Gilman, Nebula Award-nominated American author of fantasy, mystery, romance, and young-adult novels.
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