May 29 Writer Birthdays

0187 – Cao Pi, Chinese writer, poet, and scholar who was the first emperor of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China; he wrote more than a hundred articles on various subjects, as well as “Yan Ge Xing,” the first Chinese poem in the style of seven syllables per line.

1617 – Anna Maria von Baden-Durlach, German poet, painter, translator, and cut-paper artist.

1830 – Louise Michel, French author, writer, teacher, poet, politician, journalist, and activist who was called “French grande dame of anarchy.”

1874 – G.K. Chesterton, English writer, philosopher, literary critic, and art critic who created the fictional priest detective Father Brown.

1879 – Kosta Abraševic, Serbian poet whose writing took on patriotic themes.

1882 – Ujō Noguchi, Japanese poet, lyricist, children’s writer, and composer who was known for some of Japan’s most beloved and familiar children’s songs and traditional Min’yo folk music; he is considered to be one the three great Japanese poets and children’s songwriters.

1892 – Frederick Schiller Faust, American author known primarily for his literary Western stories, written under the pseudonym Max Brand; he also created the popular fictional character of young medical intern Dr. James Kildare for a series of pulp fiction stories; Dr. Kildare was later featured in a variety of films, radio plays, and television series.

1892 – Alfonsina Storni, Swiss-born Argentinian writer, teacher, modernist poet, journalist, and diarist.

1906 – T.H. White, English author best known for his series of Arthurian novels, published together in one volume as The Once and Future King; he also wrote post-apocalyptic science fiction, essays, a translation of a Medieval bestiary, and a nonfiction book about his attempts to train a northern goshawk using traditional falconry techniques.

1911 – Leah Goldberg, prolific German-born Israeli poet, author, playwright, literary translator, and comparative literary researcher who wrote in Hebrew; her writings are considered classics of Israeli literature.

1917 – John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Profiles in Courage.

1923 – Bernard Clavel, French novelist, young-adult writer, and journalist who won the Prix Goncourt for his novel Les Fruits de l’hiver (The Fruits of Winter).

1923 – Harald Ulrik Sverdrup, Norwegian writer, poet, and children’s author.

1932 – Paul R. Ehrlich, American biologist and professor, best known for his warnings about the consequences of population growth and limited resources; he co-authored the controversial book The Population Bomb.

1932 – Jill Adelaide Neville, Australian novelist, playwright, and poet.

1933 – Abdul Rahman Munif, Jordan-born Saudi novelist, short-story writer, memoirist, journalist, thinker, and cultural critic who is considered one of the most significant modern Saudi authors and one of the best in the Arabic language of the 20th century; Hhis novels include strong political elements as well as mockeries of the Middle Eastern elite classes, and so offended the rulers of Saudi Arabia that his Saudi citizenship was revoked and many of his books were banned.

1934 – Nancy Cárdenas, Mexican, writer, poet, playwright, actor, and activist who was a pioneer in the gay liberation movement in Mexico.

1935 – André Brink, South African novelist and professor who was best known for his novel, A Dry White Season; he was a key figure in the 1960s Afrikaans literary movement Die Sestigers, which used Afrikaans as a language to speak out against apartheid.

1938 – Brock Cole, National Book Award-winning American children’s author and illustrator.

1942 – Hullad Moradabadi, Indian poet, humorist, and satirist in the Hindi language.

1943 – Linden MacIntyre, award-winning Canadian journalist, broadcaster, and novelist.

1949 – Andrew Clements, award-winning, prolific American author of children’s fiction; he was also an editor and teacher.

1952 – Pia Tafdrup, award-winning Danish novelist, playwright, and poet.

1967 – Steven Levitt, award-winning American economist and professor whose work on various economics topics, including crime, politics, and sports, includes more than 60 academic publications, but who is best known as co-author of the bestselling book Freakonomics.

1973 – Cristina Ali Farah, award-winning Italian writer, novelist, poet, playwright, and journalist who grew up in Somalia.

1982 – Fatima Bhutto, Pakistani writer, poet, and journalist; she is the daughter of Murtaza Bhutto, niece of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and granddaughter of former Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, but has been critical of prominent members of her family; her most notable work is her 2010 non-fiction book about her family, Songs of Blood and Sword.