March 7 Writer Birthdays

1715 – Ewald Christian von Kleist, German lyric poet and cavalry officer.

1785 – Alessandro Manzoni, Italian poet and novelist whose novel The Betrothed (I promessi sposi) is ranked among the masterpieces of world literature and is considered a symbol of Italian reunification, both for its patriotic message and because it was a milestone in the development of the modern, unified Italian language.

1856 – Matilde Serao, Greek-born Italian journalist, novelist, and newspaper editor and founder who was a four-time nominee for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

1920 – Katherine Siva Saubel, Native American writer, poet, linguist, educator, scholar, tribal leader, and activist for preserving her Cahuilla history, culture, and language.

1920 – Bo Yang, Chinese author, poet, historian, essayist, memoirist, translator, human-rights activist, and social critic who was a political prisoner several times on trumped-up charges, once for his sarcastic translation of a Popeye comic strip, which was seen as a criticism of Taiwanese leader Chiang Kai-shek; other charges included listening to a Communist radio broadcast and being a Communist agent. He never knew the exact day of his birth but adopted March 7 as his birthday because it was the date of his 1968 imprisonment.

1922 – Mochtar Lubis, Indonesian Batak journalist, novelist, magazine founder, and political prisoner; his novel Senja di Jakarta (Twilight in Jakarta) was the first Indonesian novel to be translated into English.

1924 – Abe Kobo (pen name of Kimifusa Abe), Japanese writer, playwright, musician, photographer, and inventor who has been compared to Franz Kafka for his modernist sensibilities and surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society.

1929 – Dan Jacobson, Jewish South African-born novelist and short-story writer.

1936 – Georges Perec, French novelist, screenwriter, and essayist who experimented with constrained writing techniques.

1945 – Elizabeth Moon, Nebula Award-winning American science-fiction and fantasy author, newspaper writer, photographer, and naturalist who was once a U.S. Marine.

1946 – Daniel Goleman, American psychologist, science journalist, and author of the international bestseller Emotional Intelligence.

1951 – Robin Becker, award-winning American poet, critic, professor, and feminist writer whose work reflects her Russian-Jewish heritage and queer identity, her interest in art history and visual art, the experience of growing up in 1950s America, and the legacy of the 1960s.

1952 – Sudha Bhattacharya, Indian writer, scientist, and professor whose work is primarily in the fields of Molecular Parasitology and Gene Regulation.

1954 – Carol Miller Swain, American author, television analyst, and professor of political science and law whose work centers on race relations, immigration, representation, evangelical politics, and the United States Constitution.

1954 – Jasmina Tešanovic, Serbian author, journalist, translator, feminist filmmaker, and activist; she is married to American science-fiction writer Bruce Sterling.

1956 – Andrea Levy, English novelist of Afro-Jamaican descent who chronicled the experience of Jamaican immigrants in Britain.

1957 – Robert Harris, English journalist and author of historical fiction, mostly centering on World War II and Rome.

1963 – E.L. James, pen name of Erika Leonard, British author of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy.

1964 – Bret Easton Ellis, American novelist, satirical author, screenwriter, and short-story writer, best known for his novel American Psycho.

1964 – Wanda Sykes, Emmy Award-winning American comedian, writer, screenwriter, actress, and voice artist.

1967 – Muhsin Al-Ramli (Arabic: محسن الرملي‎), Iraqi scholar, translator, novelist, and poet.

1968 – Sarah Ladipo Manyika, Nigerian-born, British-based novelist, short-story writer, essayist, literary critic, and editor.

1968 – Saleem Safi, Pakistani journalist, writer, columnist, news presenter, and talk-show host.

1974 – Beatrice Dorothy “Bee” Wilson, British food writer, journalist, and historian who writes books on food-related subjects.

1978 – Jaqueline Jesus, Brazilian psychologist, writer, and human rights activist.