1789 – Catharine Maria Sedgwick, American novelist, short-story writer, and activist for religious freedom.
1872 – Pío Baroja y Nessi, Spanish Basque writer, one of the key novelists of the Generation of ’98.
1895 – Carol Ryrie Brink, Newbery Medal-winning American author of children’s and adult fiction, best known for her novel Caddie Woodlawn, based on events from her grandmother’s childhood.
1902 – Mortimer Jerome Adler, American philosopher, educator, and popular author.
1902 – Shen Congwen (also Ts’ung-wen), Miao Chinese writer from the May Fourth Movement, known for combining the vernacular style of writing with classical Chinese writing techniques and a strong influence from western literature.
1911 – Sam Levenson, American humorist, writer, teacher, television host, and journalist.
1917 – Mouloud Mammeri, Algerian-born Berber writer, poet, anthropologist, and linguist who immigrated to Morocco.
1919 – Emily Cheney Neville, Newbery Medal-winning American author of children’s books.
1922 – Stan Lee, American comic-book author and editor who was president of Marvel Comics.
1925 – Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef, German actress, singer, writer, and memoirist.
1927 – Simon Arthur Noël Raven, controversial English novelist, essayist, and dramatist.
1931 – Guy Louis Debord, French Marxist theorist, writer, and filmmaker.
1932 – Manuel Puig, Argentine author known for such novels as Kiss of the Spider Woman.
1933 – Charles McColl Portis, American author best known for the classic Western novel True Grit, which has been made into two films.
1938 – Frank Kelly, Irish actor, singer, playwright, and screenwriter.
1945 – Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings, British journalist, editor, historian, and author; his parents were Macdonald Hastings, a journalist and war correspondent, and Anne Scott-James, editor of Harper’s Bazaar.
1953 – Charlie Pierce, American sportswriter, political blogger, and frequent contestant on NPR’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.”
1955 – Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波), Chinese literary critic, writer, professor, and human rights activist who called for political reforms and the end of communist single-party rule and was incarcerated as a political prisoner.
1958 – Gilles Leroy, French novelist, playwright, and short-story writer; winner of the 2007 Prix Goncourt.
1961 – Ramin Jahanbegloo, Iranian philosopher, writer, and professor, now based in Canada.
1963 – Willow Bay, American television correspondent, editor, and author.
