1697 – Kamo no Mabuchi, Japanese poet and philologist who conducted research into the spirit of ancient Japan through his studies of the Man’yoshu and other works of ancient literature.
1703 – José Francisco de Isla, Spanish writer, poet, humorist, satirist, and theologian who was also a Jesuit priest.
1800 – Saverio Baldacchini (born Francesco Saverio Baldacchini Gargano), Italian writer, poet, essayist, newspaper founder, and politician.
1804 – Chō Kōran, Japanese poet, artist, and educator, known for her study of Chinese arts and specialization in bunjinga ink paintings, and for founding a private school for teaching Chinese poetry to women.
1815 – Anthony Trollope, popular Victorian-era English novelist, known for books set in fictional Barsetshire.
1816 – Antti Puhakka, Finnish Romantic poet and politician who was illiterate until the age of 21, but who wrote nearly 20,000 lines of poetry after he learned to read and write; he was known for using Kalevala meter in his poems. (Kalevala meter is also called Trochaic tetrameter; it refers to a line of four trochaic feet.)
1825 – R.M. Ballantyne, prolific Scottish children’s author, writer, painter, and businessperson.
1830 – Charlotta Eugenia Augusta Amalia Albertina (Princess Eugénie of Sweden and Norway) Swedish-born writer, translator, painter, sculptor, and composer who was the daughter of King Oscar I of Sweden and Josephine of Leuchtenberg.
1845 – Carl Spitteler, Nobel Prize-winning Swiss poet who also wrote as Carl Felix Tandem.
1849 – Helen Taggart Clark, U.S journalist, poet, writer, columnist, and teacher; some of her earlier work was signed, simply, H.T.C.
1862 – A.C. Benson, English essayist, poet, author and educator.
1862 – Virginia Sheard, Canadian writer, poet, novelist, and short-story writer who also wrote under the name Stanton Sheard; she was especially known for writing romances, including historical romance, but her poetry was mostly on religious themes.
1874 – Penelope Delta, Greek author of books for children and teens who was one of the first Greek writer children’s books; her historical novels have been widely read and have influenced Greek popular perceptions on national identity and history. She committed suicide in 1941 on the day German troops entered Athens in World War II.
1875 – Maria Briscoe Croker, U.S. poet who was Maryland’s first Poet Laureate.
1881 – Gemma La Guardia Gluck, U.S.-born writer of Italian Jewish origin, who lived in Hungary and was a survivor of the Holocaust; her autobiography tells of her experience as a survivor of the Ravensbrück concentration camp, but also offers vivid memories of her childhood spent in the United States with her parents and her brother Fiorello La Guardia, the future first Italian-American mayor of New York.
1896 – Frederick Robert Higgins, Irish poet and theatre director who was a student of poet William Butler Yeats.
1897 – Vasyl Stepanovych Grendzha-Donskyi, Ukrainian writer, translator, poet, memoirist, short-story writer, historical novelist, and pamphleteer; he was also the editor of several Transcarpathian newspapers and magazines.
1900 – Elizabeth Goudge, English author of novels and children’s books.
1903 – Nikolay Zabolotsky, Russian poet, writer, children’s author, and translator; he was considered a Modernist and one of the founders of the Russian avant-garde absurdist group Oberiu.
1905 – Robert Penn Warren, U.S. novelist and poet; winner of three Pulitzer Prizes; the only person ever to have won for both poetry and prose. Best known for his novel All the King’s Men, ranked by Modern Library as the 36th greatest novel of the 20th century.
1908 – George Oppen, U.S. poet and Pulitzer Prize winner.
1909 – Robert Farren (Irish spelling: Roibeárd Ó Faracháin), Irish poet, writer, literary critic, and teacher who was director of broadcasting at Raidió Teilifís Éireann and the author of a much-acclaimed critical work, The Course of Irish Verse in English; five of his poems were included in The Oxford Book of Irish Verse, 17th Century-20th Century.
1911 – Rifat Ilgaz, Turkish teacher, writer, poet, and journalist who was one of Turkey’s best-known and most prolific poets and writers; he also co-founded a leading satirical weekly magazine, Marko Paşa.
1911 – Evaline Ness, Caldecott Medal-winning U.S. children’s book author and illustrator who is known for using a great variety of artistic media and methods.
1912 – Marta Rădulescu, Romanian novelist, poet, travel writer, journalist, children’s author, politician, and mountaineer.
1913 – Janet Hinshaw Caird , Malawi-born British and U.S. writer of Scottish mysteries, poems, and short stories.
1918 – T.N. Gopinathan Nair, award-winning Indian Malayalam writer who was best known as a prolific playwright; he was also a screenwriter, journalist, novelist, essayist, biographer, poet, and actor.
1919 – Mihu Dragomir (pen name of Mihail C. Dragomirescu), Romanian poet, prose writer, translator, editor, and science-fiction author. He wrote humor under the pen name Miguel Y Caramba, and crossword puzzles under the pen names Jules Limah, Dr. M.C., Mihail, Mișu Brăilițeanu, and M.C. Dragomirescu.
1921 – Gabriel Imomotimi Okara, Nigerian poet and novelist who is considered the first Modernist African poet who wrote in English; in his poems and prose he drew on African thought, religion, folklore, and imagery.
1922 – Susanna Agnelli, Contessa Rattazzi, Italian writer, politician, and businessperson who was the first woman to be appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in Italy.
1923 – Doris Burn, U.S. children’s book author and Illustrator.
1924 – Elizabeth Bartlett, award-winning British poet and writer who has been called the “poet of the lonely and vulnerable” because she drew upon her experience working in the National Health Service and cash-strapped social services agencies to create a body of work characterized by uncompromising honesty in its confrontations with physical and mental illness. Suffering from clinical depression herself, she said, “I am drawn to people with maimed personalities, because I know I am one myself.”
1924 – Sir Clement Freud, German-born English writer, politician, broadcaster, and chef, known for the children’s book Grimble; grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. He married June Flewett, who was C.S. Lewis’s inspiration for the character Lucy in the Chronicles of Narnia.
1924 – Nora Bustamante Luciani, Venezuelan physician, historian, writer, and intellectual.
1924 – Djamil Suherman (also known as Djamil Soeherman, Jamil Suherman, or, simply, DS), Indonesian writer, poet, and journalist whose work focuses on social and religious themes.
1925 – Muriel Dorothy Butler (née Norgrove), award-winning New Zealand children’s book author, bookseller, memoirist, and reading advocate.
1931 – Satyapal Anand, award-winning Pakistani and U.S. poet, critic, writer, and professor who has written several fictional and poetry books in four languages: English, Urdu, Hindi, and Punjabi.
1931 – Dvora Waysman, award-winning Australian-born Israeli author, short-story writer, and educator; her topics include travel, family life, and Jewish history and culture.
1933 – Rowley Habib (also known as Rore Hapipi), New Zealand poet, playwright, television screenwriter, short-story writer of Lebanese and Māori descent.
1934 – D. Jayakanthan (popularly known as JK), prolific, award-winning Indian novelist, journalist, short-story writer, autobiographer, orator, filmmaker, critic, and activist; several of his novels have been adapted into films.
1934 – Shirley MacLaine, Oscar and Emmy Award-winning U.S. actress and author of new-age autobiographies; her brother is actor and director Warren Beatty.
1936 – Caupolicán Ovalles (full name Rafael Honorio Caupolican Ovalles Colmenares), award-winning but controversial Venezuelan writer, screenwriter, and storyteller who belonged to the avant-garde movement of the 1960s and was influenced by French Surrealism and U.S. Beatnik culture.
1936 – Vera Rich (born Faith Elizabeth Rich) British poet, journalist, historian, editor, and translator who founded a poetry magazine but was best known for her translation of the works of Belarusian and Ukrainian poets into English.
1939 – Brian Garfield, U.S. novelist, nonfiction writer, and screenwriter who has also used pen names Brian Wynne and Frank Wynne.
1940 – Sue Grafton, bestselling U.S. novelist known especially for her “alphabet mysteries.”
1943 – Maureen Scott Harris, award-winning Canadian poet, essayist, and librarian.
1946 – Kamla Bhasin, Indian poet, author, scientist, and feminist activist; much of her work focuses on gender, education, human development, and the media.
1948 – Kohei Tsuka, Korean-Japanese playwright, theater director, and screenwriter who was so influential that modern Japanese theatrical history is often divided into the pre-Tsuka and post-Tsuka periods.
1953 – Eric Bogosian, U.S. playwright, novelist, historian, and actor; he is best known for his Pulitzer-nominated play Talk Radio.
1965 – Colin Cheong Wye Mun (Zhen Wai Mung), award-winning Singaporean novelist.
1970 – Simone Elkeles, U.S. author of bestselling teen romances.
1973 – Rula Jebreal, Israeli-Italian journalist, foreign policy analyst, journalist, novelist, nonfiction author, and screenwriter.
1973 – Damon Lindelof, U.S. screenwriter and producer best known for his work on such TV shows as Lost, Watchmen, Nash Bridges, and Star Trek Into Darkness.
1973 – Sourav Mukhopadhyay, Indian Bengali author of novels and short stories for adults and children.
The Petrini Page 