July 2 Writer Birthdays

1865 – Lily Braun (born Amalie von Kretschmann), German feminist writer, memoirist, and politician.

1869 – Liane de Pougy, French and Romanian novelist, dancer, cabaret artist, and courtesan.

1877 – Herman Hesse, Nobel Prize-winning German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter; he is best known for his books Steppenwolf and Siddhartha.

1901 – Kalindi Charan Panigrahi, Indian Odia poet, novelist, short-story writer, editor, dramatist, and essayist; he was part of the Odia literary group Sabuja Goshthi (the Green Group).

1918 – Wibo (“Wim” Willem Louis Joseph Boost), Dutch cartoonist whose pseudonym Wibo was a contraction of his name Wim Boost.

1919 – Jean Craighead George, journalist, White House press corps member, and Newbery Medal-winning American author of children’s and young-adult literature that focuses on nature and survival in the wilderness; best known for Julie of the Wolves and My Side of the Mountain, she also published an autobiography and two guides to cooking with wild foods.

1920 – Eliseo Diego, Cuban writer and poet praised for his lyric poetry, short stories, and fairy tale translations; he was part of the Cuban literary group Origines in the 1950s.

1923 – Wisława Szymborska-Włodek (also known as Maria Wisława Anna Szymborska), Nobel Prize-winning Polish poet, essayist, and translator.

1935 – Nanni Balestrini, Italian experimental poet, screenwriter, author, and visual artist of the Neoavanguardia movement.

1935 – Ed Bullins (also known as Kingsley B. Bass), award-winning African-American playwright, novelist, and short-story writer who was the Minister of Culture for the Black Panthers.

1939 – Moniruzzaman (known by his pen-name Hayat Mahmud), award-winning Bangladeshi essayist and poet.

1942 – Mojca Drcar Murko, Slovenian journalist who is a Member of the European Parliament.

1947 – George Henry Weideman, award-winning South African poet, author, children’s writer, and playwright.

1951 – Jack Gantos, Newbery Honor-winning American author of children’s books and creator of the Rotten Ralph character, who has also written a memoir and two novels for adults; he was also a National Book Award finalist.

1951 – John Francis Ernest Trenwith, New Zealand writer, humorist, comic novelist, and academic.

1958 – Sushil Siddharth, award-winning Indian Hindi poet, prose writer, journalist, critic, editor, and satirist.

1961 – Matt Preston, English-Australian food writer, restaurant critic, television host, recipe writer, and columnist.

1964 – Elizabeth Graver, National Book Award-nominated American author of novels and short stories.

1969 – Steinunn Ólína Þorsteinsdóttir, Icelandic writer, television presenter, and actress.

1971 – Evelyn Lau, Canadian poet and memoirist who became homeless at age 14 when she ran away from home to escape her parents (who disapproved of her writing and wanted her to become a doctor); her diary from that period was published as Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid and was made into a television movie.

1972 – Darren Shan, the pen name of Darren O’Shaughnessy, Irish author of young-adult fantasy and horror novels.

1974 – Matthew Reilly, bestselling Australian author of action thriller novels and short stories.

1974 – Moon So-ri, South Korean screenwriter, film director, actress, and politician.

1979 – Najat El Hachmi, award-winning Moroccan-Spanish writer, novelist, and essayist.

1981 – Sivan Rahav-Meir, Israeli television reporter and news anchor, opinion journalist, radio broadcaster, and lecturer.

1983 – Tao Lin, American novelist, poet, essayist, and short-story writer.

1984 – Ali Sethi, Pakistani novelist, journalist, and singer.