1820 – Anna Sewell, English novelist whose only published work was the book Black Beauty, told from the point of view of a horse; it is one of the most popular children’s classics, though it was originally intended for adults who work with horses, to convince them to treat the horses better.
1844 – Paul Verlaine, French poet associated with the Symbolist and Decadent movements.
1858 – Princess Catherine Radziwill, Polish-Russian-Lithuanian princess who wrote two dozen books about European royalty and the Russian court, as well as an autobiography; she was a prominent figure at the Imperial courts in Germany and Russia, and was involved in a series of scandals.
1857 – Gabriela Zapolska (born Maria Gabriela Korwin-Piotrowska), Hungarian-born Polish actress, novelist, and playwright of the Naturalist school.
1863 – Mary Whiton Calkins, U.S. psychologist, author, textbook writer, and philosopher whose work informed theory and research of memory, dreams, and the self. She completed the requirements for a Ph.D. at Harvard University, with the unanimous support of the psychology faculty, but the university refused to grant her the degree because she was a woman. She went on to become the first woman president of both the American Psychological Association and the American Philosophical Association.
1880 – Sean O’Casey, Irish playwright and memoirist who was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.
1882 – Emma Jung (born Emma Marie Rauschenbach), Swiss psychologist, analyst, author, and essayist; she married Carl Gustav Jung, supporting him by financing and editing his work, to help him to become the founder of analytical psychology. After her death, he described her as “a Queen.”
1882 – Melanie Klein (née Reizes), Austrian-British author and psychoanalyst known for her work in child analysis.
1886 – Frances Crofts Cornford (née Darwin), English poet who was the granddaughter of Charles Darwin; because of the similarity of her first name to her father’s (Francis), she was known to her family before her marriage as “FCD” and sometimes used it as a pen name.
1895 – Jean Giono, French author whose novels were mostly set in Provence and often celebrate nature.
1899 – Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay (শরদিন্দু বন্দোপাধ্যায়), Bengali novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and screenwriter, best known for his detective fiction.
1902 – Roberta Brooke Astor (née Russell3, 2007) U.S. philanthropist, socialite, novelist, and memoirist; her third husband, Vincent Astor, was the great-great grandson of the first U.S. multi-millionaire, John Jacob Astor. A musical about her life, Brooke Astor’s Last Affair, premiered at the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival.
1903 – Countee Cullen, U.S. poet, novelist, children’s writer, and playwright who was akey figure in the Harlem Renaissance.
1909 – Lalithambika Antharjanam, award-winning Indian novelist, short-story writer, poet, children’s writer, autobiographer, and social reformer who was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi; her writing reflects a sensitivity to the women’s role in society, in the family, and as an individual.
1923 – Milton James Rhode Acorn, Canadian writer, playwright, and Canada’s National Poet, often called the People’s Poet
1924 – Alan Davidson, British diplomat and historian who was best known for his food writing, in particular the editing of the Oxford Companion to Food.
1928 – Thomas Ridley Sharpe, English satirical novelist who lived in South African for 10 years until he was deported for sedition.
1947 – Satoko Tsushima (pen name Yuko Tsushima), award-winning Japanese novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and critic; The New York Times called her “one of the most important writers of her generation.”
1949 – Ruth Elynia S. Mabanglo, Filipina writer, poet, journalist, editor, anthologist, and professor.
1958 – Thierry Cabot, French poet who says that his work “is often marked with the seal of melancholy.”
1959 – Martina Cole, bestselling British crime writer, detective novelist, film producer, television presenter, and businesswoman.
1973 – Farooq Adamu Kperogi, award-winning Nigerian author, professor, media scholar, newspaper columnist, blogger, reporter, editor, linguist, and activist who is based in the United States.
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