0216 – Mani, Babylonian writer, prophet, theologian, and religious leader who founded Manichaeism; six of his major works were written in Syriac, with the seventh in Middle Persian.
1126 – Ibn Rushd (often Latinized as Averroes), Muslim Andalusian Spanish philosopher and judge who wrote about philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psychology, mathematics, Islamic jurisprudence and law, linguistics, and Aristotle.
1614 – Marthe Cosnard, French playwright and short-story writer who was a member of the “Cercle des femmes savantes.”
1629 – Christiaan Huygens, Dutch astronomer and physicist who discovered the rings of Saturn, invented the pendulum clock, and wrote about mechanics and optics.
1703 – Luisa Bergalli, Venetian Italian playwright, novelist, poet, translator, and composer who sometimes collaborated with her husband, writer Gasparo Gozzi.
1870 – Ada Jane Graves, Indian-born British children’s writer, best known for two books, The House by the Railway and Four Little People and their Year at Silverhaven.
1872 – Abdullah Yusuf Ali, British-born Indian barrister, writer, translator, and scholar who wrote about Islam; his translation of the Qur’an into English is one of the most widely used in the English-speaking world.
1879 – James Branch Cabell, U.S. author of satirical fantasy and literary fiction.
1889 – Arnold Joseph Toynbee, British historian best known for his 12-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations.
1901 – Martin Kessel, award-winning German novelist whose book Mr. Brecher’s Fiasco has been praised as “one of the great modern novels about the urban heart of Germany.”
1912 – Nora Gal (full name Eleonora Yakovlevna Galperina), Soviet writer, poet, editor, translator, linguist, literary critic, and translation theorist, known for her translations of works by Alexandre Dumas, H.G. Wells, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Harper Lee, Katherine Anne Porter, J.D. Salinger, Isaac Asimov, Ursula K. Le Guin, and many others; her influential, convention-challenging book on translation, Words Living and Words Dead, is still in print.
1913 – Kiharu Nakamura (born Kazuko Yamamoto), Japanese essayist, memoirist, and former geisha; she was also the first woman in Japan to earn a pilot’s license.
1923 – Jarmila Loukotková, Czech author, historical novelist, screenwriter, journalist, and translator.
1924 – Mary Warnock, British baroness, writer, philosopher, politician, educator, and existentialist; her work dealt with morality, education, and the mind, and she is best known for chairing an inquiry whose report formed the basis of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. She also served as Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge.
1926 – Barbara Lillias Romaine Anderson (née Wright; also known as Lady Anderson), award-winning bestselling New Zealand novelist, short-story writer, teacher, and medical technician.
1928 – Dev Kumari Thapa, Nepalese short-story writer and nurse.
1935 – Erich von Däniken, Swiss author known for theories about extraterrestrials, described in controversial books such as his most famous one, Chariots of the Gods. (Perhaps he was the inspiration for Dr. Daniel Jackson?)
1935 – Jack McDevitt U.S. science-fiction novelist and short-story writer, many of whose works deal with attempts to make contact with alien races, and with archaeology or xenoarchaeology; he is best known for his Alex Benedict series and his Priscilla Hutchins series, and has been nominated for the Nebula Award sixteen times and has won once.
1940 – Angela Lambert (née Angela Maria Helps), award-winning British journalist, art critic, and author, best known for the novel A Rather English Marriage.
1941 – Inge Biehl Henningsen, Danish writer, editor, mathematician, statistician, and academic; she has also been active in politics and women’s rights
1945 – Inger Hagerup, Norwegian author, playwright, and poet; she is considered one of the greatest Norwegian poets of the 20th century.
1946 – Abdilatif Abdalla, Kenyan poet, writer, political activist, politician, and educator who was imprisoned for his support of the Kenya People’s Union; the poems he wrote while in solitary confinement were awarded the Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature.
1946 – Mirielle Guiliano, bestselling French and U.S. diet book author, best known for the book French Women Don’t Get Fat.
1947 – Chou Kung-shin (also known as Zhou Gongxin), Taiwanese writer, historian, archaeologist, scientist, and museum director.
1950 – Daniela Crăsnaru, award-winning Romanian poet, short-story writer, children’s author, politician, and translator; she is considered one of the most important contemporary Romanian poets.
1951 – Ma Kwang-soo, South Korean writer, poet, novelist, essayist, professor, and journalist; he was controversial because of his treatment of sexuality in his work, and was imprisoned for eight months for publishing novels that were considered sexually explicit.
1954 – Bruce Sterling, U.S. science-fiction author who was an early cyberpunk pioneer.
1954 – Alenka Rebula Tuta, Slovene writer, poet, and applied psychologist who lives and works in Italy.
1959 – Anne Landsman, award-winning South African novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and university teacher who now lives in the U.S.; she is the author of the novels The Devil’s Chimney and The Rowing Lesson.
1960 – Myoma Myint Kywe, award-winning Burmese writer, historian, and journalist.
1960 – Tina Rosenberg, Pulitzer Prize-winning U.S. journalist, columnist, editor, and nonfiction book author.
1961 – Daniel Clowes, award-winning U.S. cartoonist, graphic novelist, screenwriter, and illustrator.
1968 – Zachary Karabashliev, bestselling Bulgarian novelist, playwright, editor, and short-story writer.
1968 – Karla Wheelock (full name Karla Susana Wheelock Aguayo), Mexican mountaineer, writer, and lecturer who was the second Latin American woman to climb Mount Everest.
1969 – Lydia R. Diamond, influential U.S. playwright and professor whose plays often deal with issues of race.
1970 – Michelle Eileen McNamara, U.S. author of true crime books; she is best known for her book I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer.
1970 – Faruk Šehić, Bosnian novelist, poet, short-story writer, columnist, and journalist who studied veterinary medicine in Zagreb until the outbreak of the Bosnian war, in which he was an active combatant; after the war, he turned to literature.
1971 – Mars Callahan, U.S. screenwriter and poker player.
1977 – Olivia Laing, award-winning British novelist, nonfiction writer, and cultural critic.
1983 – Anna Rose, Australian author and environmental activist.
The Petrini Page 