December 24 Writer Birthdays

1714 – Rainieri De Calzabigi, Italian poet and librettist who was a close friend of Casanova.

1754 – George Crabbe, English poet and curate who is remembered for his portrayal of rural life.

1791 – Augustin-Eugène Scribe, French dramatist whose works dominated the Parisian stage for more than 30 years.

1798 – Adam Bernard Mickiewicz, Polish Romantic poet, dramatist, essayist, translator, and political activist; he is considered Poland’s greatest poet.

1818 – Eliza Cook, English author and poet associated with the Chartist movement; she was a proponent of political freedom for women, and believed in the ideology of self-improvement through education, which made her hugely popular with the working class public in England and America.

1869 – Henriëtte Roland Holst-van der Schalk, Dutch poet and socialist party leader.

1881 – Juan Ramón Jiménez, Nobel Prize-winning Spanish poet and journalist who left Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War to live in the U.S., Cuba, and Puerto Rico.

1882 – Matthew Arnold, English poet and critic who was a major Victorian writer, well known for his poems “Dover Beach,” “The Scholar-Gipsy,” and “Thyrsis.”

1895 – Noel Streatfeild, award-winning British novelist and children’s author; several of her novels have been adapted for film or television.

1899 – Pandurang Sadashiv Sane, Indian Marathi author, children’s writer, journalist, linguist, translator, teacher, social activist, and freedom fighter who is called the National Teacher of India.

1907 – I.F. Stone, American investigative journalist and author.

1910 – Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr., American novelist and short-story writer in the genres of fantasy, horror, and science-fiction who was especially influential in sword-and-sorcery fantasy; he was also a poet, playwright, and chess expert.

1911 – Malcolm MacEwen, Scottish journalist and editor.

1926 – Badr Shakir al Sayyab, leading Iraqi poet, well known throughout the Arab world and one of the most influential Arab poets of all time.

1927 – Mary Higgins Clark (full name Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins Clark Conheeney), prolific Edgar Award-winning American author of bestselling mysteries and suspense novels.

1935 – Shusha Guppy, Iranian writer, editor, songwriter, and singer.

1941 – Ana Maria Machado, award-winning Brazilian author, children’s writer, journalist, and painter who is considered one of Brazil’s most significant children’s book authors.

1946 – Eric Van Lustbader, American writer of thriller and fantasy novels.

1952 – Christopher Taylor Buckley, American author, poet, speechwriter, playwright, editor, journalist, and political satirist; his father was conservative political commentator William F. Buckley.

1955 – Sharon G. Flake, American writer of books and short stories for children and young adults, known for stories that center around African-American protagonists.

1960 – Fuyumi Ono, Japanese novelist and children’s writer best known for The Twelve Kingdoms, which was adapted into a popular anime series.

1962 – Belinda Bauer, award-winning British crime novelist, journalist, and screenwriter.

1969 – Mark Millar, Scottish comic book author.

1973 – Stephenie Meyer, American author of the popular “Twilight” teen series of vampire romance novels.