April 25 Writer Birthdays

1873 – Walter De La Mare, English poet, novelist, and short-story writer best remembered for his children’s stories and ghost stories.

1892 – Maud Hart Lovelace, American author best known for her historical novels and for her Betsy-Tacy series for children.

1899 – Grace Rasp-Nuri, Turkish Cypriot-German novelist for children and adults whose work was sometimes autobiographical.

1906 – Pudhumaipithan (pseudonym of C. Viruthachalam), controversial Indian writer who was one of the most influential and revolutionary writers of Tamil fiction; his works were characterized by social satire, progressive thinking, and outspoken criticism of accepted conventions.

1914 – Ross Lockridge Jr., American writer whose only novel, the bestselling Raintree County, was made into a movie starring Elizabeth Taylor.

1922 – Ayako Miura, bestselling Japanese novelist who published more than 80 works of fiction and nonfiction.

1927 – Corín Tellado (full name María del Socorro Tellado López), prolific Spanish writer of bestselling romantic novels and photonovels who was listed in the 1994 Guinness Book of World Records as having sold the most books written in Spanish; in 1962 UNESCO declared her the most read Spanish writer after Miguel de Cervantes.

1927 – Albert Uderzo, French comic-book artist and scriptwriter.

1931 – Yvette Duval (née Benchettrit), award-winning Moroccan-born French historian, writer, and professor who specialized in ancient North Africa and the Early African church.

1933 – J. Anthony Lukas, American journalist, editor, and nonfiction author who won a National Book Award and two Pulitzer Prizes.

1939 – Ted Kooser, American poet and essayist who was a U.S. Poet Laureate; his work is conversational in style and celebrates everyday life in the Midwestern U.S.

1949 – James Fenton, English poet, professor, journalist, literary critic, art critic, theater critic, and librettist.

1952 – Padgett Powell, American novelist in the Southern literary tradition.

1962 – Thamizhachi Thangapandian, Indian poet, lyricist, writer, orator, and politician; she was also elected a Member of Parliament.

1966 – Femke Halsema, Dutch writer, columnist, essayist, memoirist, sociologist, criminologist, mayor of Amsterdam, and a member of the House of Representatives.