December 24 Writer Birthdays

1714 – Rainieri De Calzabigi, Italian poet and librettist who was a close friend of Casanova.

1754 – George Crabbe, English poet and curate who is remembered for his portrayal of rural life.

1791 – Augustin-Eugène Scribe, French dramatist whose works dominated the Parisian stage for more than 30 years.

1798 – Adam Bernard Mickiewicz, Polish Romantic poet, dramatist, essayist, translator, and political activist; he is considered Poland’s greatest poet.

1818 – Eliza Cook, English author and poet associated with the Chartist movement; she was a proponent of political freedom for women, and believed in the ideology of self-improvement through education, which made her hugely popular with the working class public in England and America.

1843 – Lydia Emilie Florence Jannsen, Estonian poet whose pen name was Lydia Koidula, or “Lydia of the Dawn.”

1869 – Henriëtte Roland Holst-van der Schalk, Dutch poet and socialist party leader.

1881 – Juan Ramón Jiménez, Nobel Prize-winning Spanish poet and journalist who left Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War to live in the U.S., Cuba, and Puerto Rico.

1882 – Matthew Arnold, English poet and critic who was a major Victorian writer, well known for his poems “Dover Beach,” “The Scholar-Gipsy,” and “Thyrsis.”

1895 – Noel Streatfeild, award-winning British novelist and children’s author; several of her novels have been adapted for film or television.

1899 – Pandurang Sadashiv Sane, Indian Marathi author, children’s writer, journalist, linguist, translator, teacher, social activist, and freedom fighter who is called the National Teacher of India.

1907 – I.F. Stone, U.S. investigative journalist and author.

1910 – Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr., U.S. novelist and short-story writer in the genres of fantasy, horror, and science-fiction who was especially influential in sword-and-sorcery fantasy; he was also a poet, playwright, and chess expert.

1911 – Malcolm MacEwen, Scottish journalist and editor.

1926 – Badr Shakir al Sayyab, leading Iraqi poet, well known throughout the Arab world and one of the most influential Arab poets of all time.

1927 – Mary Higgins Clark (full name Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins Clark Conheeney), prolific Edgar Award-winning U.S. author of bestselling mysteries and suspense novels.

1935 – Shusha Guppy, Iranian writer, editor, songwriter, and singer.

1941 – Ana Maria Machado, award-winning Brazilian author, children’s writer, journalist, and painter who is considered one of Brazil’s most significant children’s book authors.

1946 – Eric Van Lustbader, U.S. writer of thriller and fantasy novels.

1949 – Néstor Osvaldo Perlongher, Argentine writer, poet, professor, sociologist, and anthropologist.

1950 – Faizullah Kakar, Afghan epidemiologist, writer, diplomat, and politician who has written and spoken internationally about numerous challenges faced in Afghanistan, including infectious disease epidemics, maternal mortality, and the dangers of herbicides used to eradicate poppy crops.

1952 – Christopher Taylor Buckley, U.S. author, poet, speechwriter, playwright, editor, journalist, and political satirist; his father was conservative political commentator William F. Buckley.

1953 – José Alfredo Zendejas Pineda, Mexican writer and poet who was co-founder of the infrarrealista poetry movement; he wrote under the pen name Mario Santiago Papasquiaro.

1955 – Sharon G. Flake, U.S. writer of books and short stories for children and young adults, known for stories that center around African-American protagonists.

1956 – Delfina Acosta, award-winning Paraguayan poet, short-story writer, and pharmacist.

1959 – Emanuela Da Ros, award-winning Italian journalist, writer, teacher, art historian, and author of children’s books.

1960 – Fuyumi Ono, Japanese novelist and children’s writer best known for The Twelve Kingdoms, which was adapted into a popular anime series.

1962 – Belinda Bauer, award-winning British crime novelist, journalist, and screenwriter.

1969 – Mark Millar, Scottish comic book author.

1973 – Stephenie Meyer, U.S. author of the popular “Twilight” teen series of vampire romance novels.