1823 – Jean-Henri Casimir Fabre, French naturalist, entomologist, and author known for the lively style of his popular books about insects.
1869 – Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet who won three Pulitzer Prizes for his work.
1876 – Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Egyptian-born Italian poet, playwright, science-fiction writer, editor, photographer, art theorist, and composer who was associated with the utopian and symbolist artist community and was the founder of the Futurist movement.
1876 – Thomas Mofolo, Lesotho writer whose novels drew on his country’s history and mythology.
1885 – Nora Barlow, British writer, biographer, botanist, geneticist, and science historian who was the granddaughter of naturalist Charles Darwin
1905 – Kenneth Rexroth, American poet and Beat influencer (though he disliked the label) who was a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance.
1908 – Kosta Apostolov Solev (known as Koco Racin), Macedonian author, poet, literary critic, and revolutionary who is considered one of the founders of modern Macedonian literature.
1914 – Satchidananda Saraswati (born C.K. Ramaswamy Gounder), Indian author, religious teacher, spiritual master, and yoga adept who wrote philosophical and spiritual books.
1926 – Roberta Leigh (real name Rita Lewin, née Shulman), British novelist, children’s author, science-fiction writer, romance writer, screenwriter, lyricist, and painter who wrote under several other pseudonyms, including Rachel Lindsay, Janey Scott, and Rozella Lake; she also created several children’s television series featuring puppets.
1935 – Tomás Rivera, Chicano author, poet, and educator who was born in Texas to migrant farm workers.
1936 – James Burke, British author, science historian, and television producer.
1937 – Charlotte Lamb, pen name of Sheila Ann Mary Coates Holland, prolific British author of romantic fiction who also used the pseudonyms Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Wolf, and Laura Hardy
1939 – Jerry Pinckney, Caldecott Medal-winning American children’s book illustrator.
1947 – Brian Daley, American science-fiction novelist, known for his Star Wars adaptations.
1948 – Catherine Anderson, bestselling American writer of historical and contemporary romance novels.
1951 – Charles de Lint, Canadian author of science fiction, fantasy, and magic realism who was an early popularizer of urban fantasy.
1957 – Susan Powter, Australian-born motivational speaker whose “Stop the insanity” was a 1980s catchphrase.
1960 – Antonio Rodríguez Salvador, Cuban poet, fiction writer, dramatist, essayist, and professor who is regarded as one of the outstanding voices in contemporary Latin American fiction.
1965 – Nora Okja Keller, South Korea-born American author whose best known work focuses on the trauma resulting from Korean women’s experiences as sex slaves, euphemistically called comfort women, for Japanese and American troops during World War II.
1975 – Mariko Tamaki, Canadian writer, children’s author, novelist, essayist, comics writer, and artist who is best known for her graphic novels Skim, Emiko Superstar, and This One Summer, and for several prose works of fiction and nonfiction; she also writes for both Marvel and DC Comics.
1986 – Kate Tempest, award-winning British poet, playwright, bestselling novelist, spoken word artist, and rapper.
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