April 8 Writer Birthdays

1865 – Ekaterina Mikhailovna Lopatina (pen name Katerina Eltsova), Russian writer who was a close friend of writer Ivan Bunin.

1869 – Harvey Cushing, American neurosurgeon and author of a Pulitzer prize-winning biography of Sir William Osler.

1880 – Margherita Sarfatti, Italian journalist, author, biographer, art critic, patron, collector, socialite, and propaganda adviser to the National Fascist Party; she was Benito Mussolini’s biographer as well as one of his mistresses.

1886 – Margaret Ayer Barnes, Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright.

1906 – Malcolm “Max” Afford, award-winning Australian playwright, short-story writer, novelist, and radio writer.

1908 – Karl Åke Torsten Gustafsson, Swedish botanist, geneticist, essayist, poet, and professor.

1909 – John Fante, American novelist, short-story writer, speechwriter, and screenwriter best known for his semi-autobiographical novel Ask the Dust.

1911 – Emil Cioran, Romanian philosopher and essayist who published works in both Romanian and French; his work is noted for its pervasive philosophical pessimism, and frequently engages with issues of suffering, decay, and nihilism.

1913 – Erna Diez, Austrian art historian, classical archaeologist, and author who specialized in Roman art.

1918 – Glendon Swarthout, award-winning American author and journalist whose most well known work is Bless the Beasts and Children.

1928 – Yngvar Ustvedt, Norwegian writer, biographer, literary researcher, literary critic, theatre critic, and radio personality.

1937 – Seymour Hersh, American investigative journalist and political writer who broke the My Lai massacre story

1939 – Trina Schart Hyman, Caldecott Medal-winning American author and illustrator of children’s picture books.

1940 – Adil Jehangir Jussawalla, Indian poet, author, magazine editor, and translator.

1947 – Robert Kiyosaki, American investor and author of bestselling personal finance books.

1949 – Erdal Merdan, Turkish and German writer, playwright, actor, and film director.

1955 – Barbara Kingsolver, bestselling and critically acclaimed American author of fiction, poetry, essays, and nonfiction, possibly best known for her novel The Poisonwood Bible; her work often focuses on social justice, biodiversity, and the interaction between humans and their communities and environments.

1962 – Alberto Angela, Italian paleontologist, writer, science journalist, and scientific popularizer.

1970 – Catherine Chidgey, award-winning New Zealand novelist and short-story writer; one critic called her work “a witty and melancholy alchemy of heat and chill, a work of craft and fluency, which revitalizes the book in all its guises,” and concluded, “for those who love books, Catherine Chidgey is a find.”

1974 – Nnedi Okorafor, Nigerian-American writer of fantasy and science fiction for adults and children.

1978 – Kazuhiro “Kazu” Kibuishi, Japanese-born American graphic novel author, illustrator, editor, best known as creator and editor of the comic anthology Flight and for the webcomic Copper.

1980 – Marion Montaigne, French cartoonist and writer, known particularly for her comics about popular science.