September 2 Writer Birthdays

1763 – Caroline Schelling, German writer, translator, and literary critic.

1807 – Fredrika Runeberg, Finnish novelist and journalist who wrote in Swedish; she was a pioneer of Finnish historical fiction and was one of the first woman journalists in Finland.

1820 – Lucretia Hale, American journalist, novelist, short-story writer, and children’s author, best remembered for her humorous stories about the fictional Peterkin family.

1849 – Emma Curtis Hopkins, American spiritual leader, author, theologian, mystic, and feminist who was a major force behind the New Thought movement.

1850 – Helene von Engelhardt, Baltic German poet, writer, and translator; she is sometimes referred to by her married name Helene Pabst.

1850 – Eugene Field, American writer, columnist, children’s poet, short-story writer, and author of humorous essays; he is best known for the poem “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.”

1852 – Paul Bourget, influential French author and critic who was considered a master of the psychological novel.

1894 – Bryher (pen name for Annie Winifred Ellerman), English novelist, poet, memoirist, and magazine editor who was a major figure of the international set in Paris in the 1920s, and mentor to many struggling writers; she also helped evacuate Jews from Nazi Germany.

1894 – Joseph Roth, Austrian-Jewish journalist, novelist, and essayist, best known for his family saga Radeztky March.

1917 – Cleveland Amory, American author, reporter, television critic, and animal-rights activist who often wrote about his cat, Polar Bear.

1918 – Allen Drury, bestselling Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and journalist.

1919 – Luz Méndez de la Vega, Guatemalan feminist writer, journalist, poet, academic, and actress; as an academic, she concentrated on researching and rescuing the work of colonial Guatemalan women writers.

1920 – Monica Echeverria Yañez, Chilean journalist, writer, actress, and professor.

1928 – Carla Grissmann, American writer, magazine editor, and humanitarian who also worked as an educational reformer in Sri Lanka and a keeper of antiquaries in Afghanistan; she is best known for her memoir Dinner of Herbs.

1930 – Jack M. Bickham, American author who wrote 75 novels as well as books on how to write, including The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes.

1936 – Iran Darroudi, Iranian artist, writer, biographer, and film director.

1942 – Demi (pen name for Charlotte Dumaresq Hunt), prolific author and children’s book writer and illustrator.

1943 – Shubhada Sharad Gogate, award-winning Indian Marathi novelist, short-story writer, and nonfiction author who is best known for her historical fiction.

1945 – Nancy Wright Beasley, American author, journalist, and playwright who often writes about the Holocaust.

1961 – Tetsuo Hara, Japanese manga artist and writer.

1962 – Jon Berkeley, Irish author and illustrator of children’s books who is also known for his colorful caricatures.

1968 – Sally Murphy, Australian novelist, poet, and children’s author.

1969 – Hélène Frappat, French writer, translator, novelist, essayist, radio producer, and film critic.

1976 – Tim Key, British comedian, poet, and performance artist.