1473 – Ercole Strozzi, Italian poet and lawyer who was a friend of Lucrezia Borgia, to whom he dedicated the poem “La caccia”; he was murdered in 1508 by an unknown assailant.
1763 – Caroline Schelling, German writer, translator, and literary critic.
1807 – Fredrika Runeberg, Finnish novelist and journalist who wrote in Swedish; she was a pioneer of Finnish historical fiction and was one of the first woman journalists in Finland.
1820 – Lucretia Hale, American journalist, novelist, short-story writer, and children’s author, best remembered for her humorous stories about the fictional Peterkin family.
1838 – Liliʻuokalani, Native Hawaiian author, autobiographer, musician, and composer who was the only queen regnant and the last sovereign monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom. She wrote her autobiography Hawai’i’s Story by Hawai’i’s Queen during her imprisonment after the overthrow of the kingdom; she also composed the song “Aloha ʻOe,” among others.
1849 – Emma Curtis Hopkins, American spiritual leader, author, theologian, mystic, and feminist who was a major force behind the New Thought movement.
1850 – Helene von Engelhardt, Baltic German poet, writer, and translator; she is sometimes referred to by her married name Helene Pabst.
1850 – Eugene Field, American writer, columnist, children’s poet, short-story writer, and author of humorous essays; he is best known for the poem “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.”
1852 – Paul Bourget, influential French author and critic who was considered a master of the psychological novel.
1894 – Bryher (pen name for Annie Winifred Ellerman), English novelist, poet, memoirist, and magazine editor who was a major figure of the international set in Paris in the 1920s, and mentor to many struggling writers; she also helped evacuate Jews from Nazi Germany.
1894 – Ilmari Manninen, Russian-born Finnish writer, anthropologist, ethnologist, professor, and museum director.
1894 – Joseph Roth, Austrian-Jewish journalist, novelist, and essayist, best known for his family saga Radeztky March.
1905 – Bernard Lievegoed, Indonesian-born Dutch physician, writer, economist, psychiatrist, and university teacher.
1906 – Alexander Petrovitch Kazantsev, popular Soviet Russian science-fiction writer, nonfiction writer, ufologist, screenwriter, and chess writer.
1916 – Liu Baiyu (born Liu Yuzan), Chinese writer who took an orthodox Communist line on writing issues and opposed “Western bourgeois values” influencing Chinese literature.
1917 – Cleveland Amory, American author, reporter, television critic, and animal-rights activist who often wrote about his cat, Polar Bear.
1918 – Allen Drury, bestselling Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and journalist.
1919 – Luz Méndez de la Vega, Guatemalan feminist writer, journalist, poet, academic, and actress; as an academic, she concentrated on researching and rescuing the work of colonial Guatemalan women writers.
1920 – Monica Echeverria Yañez, Chilean journalist, writer, actress, and professor.
1926 – Sergio Galindo, award-winning Mexican novelist and short-story writer.
1928 – Carla Grissmann, American writer, magazine editor, and humanitarian who also worked as an educational reformer in Sri Lanka and a keeper of antiquaries in Afghanistan; she is best known for her memoir Dinner of Herbs.
1930 – Jack M. Bickham, American author who wrote 75 novels as well as books on how to write, including The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes.
1936 – Iran Darroudi, Iranian artist, writer, biographer, and film director.
1938 – Carlo Bordini, Italian poet, writer, and novelist.
1938 – Rei Nakanishi, award-winning Chinese-born Japanese novelist, writer, composer, translator, and lyricist.
1942 – Tomilayo Adekanye, Nigerian economist, writer, and professor of Agricultural Economics; she was the first female professor in any Agricultural-related field in Nigeria, and the first in Agricultural economics in all of Africa.
1942 – Demi (pen name for Charlotte Dumaresq Hunt), prolific American author and children’s book writer and illustrator.
1943 – Shubhada Sharad Gogate, award-winning Indian Marathi novelist, short-story writer, and nonfiction author who is best known for her historical fiction.
1945 – Nancy Wright Beasley, American author, journalist, and playwright who often writes about the Holocaust.
1946 – Kim Myeong-in, South Korean writer and poet; running throughout his poetry is a concern with memories of suffering.
1950 – William C. Rhoden, American sportswriter, author, and columnist; his first book, The Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete, provides a perceptive analysis of the racist history and current reality of professional sports in the United States.
1950 – Joceline Sanschagrin, award-winning Canadian journalist, writer, radio writer, and children’s author; she wrote several books featuring the children’s television character Caillou.
1951 – Joseph H.H. Weiler, South African-born American writer, poet, university teacher, lawyer, politician, and legal scholar.
1958 – Vilma Reyes, Puerto Rican poet, writer, storyteller, and educator.
1959 – Saule Doszhan, Kazakh poet, writer, and journalist.
1961 – Tetsuo Hara, Japanese manga artist and writer.
1960 – Vetle Lid Larssen, award-winning Norwegian journalist and novelist.
1962 – Jon Berkeley, Irish author and illustrator of children’s books who is also known for his colorful caricatures.
1968 – Sally Murphy, Australian novelist, poet, and children’s author.
1969 – Hélène Frappat, French writer, translator, novelist, essayist, radio producer, and film critic.
1976 – Tim Key, British comedian, poet, and performance artist.
1977 – Fuminori Nakamura, award-winning Japanese novelist and short-story author.
1985 – Nida Jay, award-winning Pakistani novelist who writes in English and is currently based in Dubai.
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