1878 – Upton Sinclair, Pulitzer Prize-winning muckraking novelist, nonfiction author, politician, and journalist.
1884 – William Maxwell Evarts Perkins (better known as Maxwell Perkins), well-known book editor whose authors included Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Thomas Wolfe.
1899 – Leo Strauss, German-born Jewish-American political philosopher and professor.
1922 – Edie Kerouac-Parker, American memoirist who wrote about being married to author Jack Kerouac and who was the basis for several fictional characters in his books.
1928 – Donald Hall, poet, playwright, essayist, broadcaster, professor, and children’s book writer who was U.S. Poet Laureate.
1928 – Carlos Alberto de Lacerda, Mozambique-born poet, artist, professor, and broadcaster who lived and worked in Portugal, the U.K., and the U.S.
1947 – Jude Deveraux, American author of bestselling historical and contemporary romance novels.
1948 – George R.R. Martin, wildly popular American fantasy novelist, Emmy-winning screenwriter, and television producer, best known for his “Song of Ice & Fire” books and the Game of Thrones HBO series based on them.
1951 – A.A. Attanasio, American science fiction and fantasy author.
1954 – Judith Thompson, award-winning Canadian playwright whose plays confront the horror and violence of modern society.
1963 – Joseph Victor O’Connor, Irish novelist, short-story writer, and journalist; his sister is singer Sinead O’Connor, and his wife is novelist and screenwriter Anne-Marie Casey.
1977 – Chris Mooney, bestselling American author and journalist who writes about the relationship between science and politics and currently writes for the Washington Post; he is best known for his bestselling book, The Republican War on Science. (Not to be confused with Chris Mooney, the bestselling author of thrillers.)
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