July 23 Writer Birthdays

1823 – Coventry Kersey Dighton Patmore, English poet and critic who was the son of novelist and editor Peter George Patmore.

1863 – Zabel Asadour (better known by her literary pseudonym Sibil, Armenian poet, short-story writer, playwright, publisher, educator, and philanthropist.

1867 – Koda Shigeyuki (pen name Koda Rohan), award-winning Japanese writer, novelist, and literary critic.

1879 – Simeon Strunsky, U.S. essayist, encyclopedia editor, editorial writer, and columnist who was born in Vitebsk, Russia (present-day Belarus).

1888 – Raymond Chandler, U.S. author of detective fiction who helped develop the genre of the hard-boiled detective story; he created the character Philip Marlowe, who was played on screen by such actors as Humphrey Bogart, James Garner, Elliott Gould, and Robert Mitchum.

1890 – Joan Amades i Gelats, Spanish Catalan writer, ethnologist, folklorist, and Esperantist.

1896 – Katharine Burdekin (born Katharine Penelope Cade), British science-fiction and feminist utopian/dystopian novelist whose fiction often concerned social and spiritual matters; she wrote under the names Kay Burdekin and Murray Constantine. She was the sister of Rowena Cade, creator of the Minack Theatre in Cornwall.

1897 – Edward Fairly Stuart Graham Cloete, South African novelist, essayist, biographer, autobiographer, and short-story writer.

1900 – Inger Margrethe Boberg, award-winning Danish folklore researcher, writer, editor, and archivist who was the first Danish woman to earn a PhD in folklore.

1907 – Elspeth Huxley, English writer, memoirist, journalist, broadcaster, magistrate, environmentalist, farmer, and government advisor; she wrote 30 books but is best known for The Flame Trees of Thika, a memoir about her experiences growing up on a coffee farm in Colonial Kenya; her husband, Gervas Huxley, was a grandson of biologist Thomas Huxley and a cousin of writer Aldous Huxley.

1912 – M.H. Abrams, U.S. literary critic and author; editor of the Norton Anthology of English Literature, the standard text for undergraduate literature courses.

1921 – Malachi Brendan Martin (pseudonym Michael Serafian), Irish Catholic priest, Professor of Palaeography, and religious author who wrote on subjects concerning the Catholic Church; among his most significant works were The Scribal Character of The Dead Sea Scrolls and Hostage To The Devil, which dealt with Satanism, demonic possession, and exorcism.

1923 – Thea Beckman, award-winning Dutch author, children’s writer, and science-fiction writer, best known for her children’s time-travel novel, Crusade in Jeans.

1925 – Magdalen Goffin, English writer, biographer, book reviewer, and editor.

1926 – Sidilla Editha “Cedella” Booker (née Malcolm and previously Marley, Jamaican singer, writer, and biographer who was the mother of reggae musician Bob Marley; she was the organizer of the 9 Mile Music Festival, an annual music event to help keep alive Marley’s message of peace, love and unity.

1928 – Vera Rubin (Vera Florence Cooper Rubin), U.S. astronomer, author, and professor who pioneered work on galaxy rotation rates; The New York Times described her work as “ushering in a Copernican-scale change” in cosmological theory. An observatory, a satellite, an asteroid, and an area on Mars have been named after her, as is a fictitious Verubin Nebula in Season Three of the television show Star Trek: Discovery.

1928 – Hubert Selby Jr., controversial U.S. novelist, best known for his books Last Exit to Brooklyn and Requiem for a Dream; the latter was the subject of obscenity charges in Britain; a highly publicized court trial resulted in a guilty verdict, which was overturned on appeal, paving the way for the end of censorship in Britain.

1929 – Robert Quackenbush, U.S. author and illustrator of children’s books.

1930 – Vivienne Rae-Ellis, Australian writer and biographer who also wrote under the pseudonym Antonia Bell.

1932 – Gibson Mthuthuzeli Kente, South African playwright, composer, director, television writer, and producer who was known as the Father of Black Theatre in South Africa; he was one of the first writers to deal with life in South Africa’s black townships.

1933 – Myfanwy Horne (born Myfanwy Gollan), Australian journalist, writer, essayist, reviewer, book editor, and social commentator; she was the organizer of a historical exhibition in Sydney, “Struggle for Democracy in Australia 1788-1977,” which focused on the human-rights struggles of Aboriginal people, women’s rights, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion.

1936 – Shiv Kumar Batalvi, Indian poet, writer, and playwright of the Punjabi language; he was best known for his romantic poetry, noted for its heightened passion, pathos, separation, and lover’s agony.

1939 – Fanny Puyesky Mitnik, Uruguayan lawyer, writer, journalist, columnist, and dramatist who is known as “the first feminist” of Uruguay.

1940 – Danielle Collobert, French author, poet and journalist whose work explored travel, the ambiguity of gender, and an obsession with death as the destination of humankind.

1941 – Kim Jong-hae, award-winning Korean author, lyric poet, sailor, and publisher.

1942 – Dimitris Liantinis, Greek author, philosopher, writer, poet, translator, and professor who wrote on philosophical issues including education, morality, and death, and emphasized the need to incorporate Ancient Greek ideas and morals into the modern Greek education system; he has achieved notoriety in Greece because of his strange and unexplained final disappearance in 1998, leaving behind a letter to his family: “I go away by my own will. I disappear standing, strong, and proud.”

1944 – Alexander Buzo, prolific Australian playwright, travel writer, children’s author, sports writer, and reviewer who was known for his witty and insightful books.

1947 – Gardner Dozois, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning U.S. science-fiction author and editor.

1952 – Laxman Maruti Gaikwad, Indian Marathi novelist best known for his award-winning autobiographical novel, Uchalaya, and its translation, The Branded; Considered a masterpiece in Marathi literature, it brings to the world of literature for the first time the trials and tribulations of his tribe, Uchalya, literally “the pilferers,” a term coined by the British.

1954 – Kelley Aitken, Canadian short-story writer, visual artist, editor, and art instructor.

1960 – Mario Bellatin, Peruvian-Mexican novelist, science-fiction writer, and educator who is considered a leading voice in Spanish fiction for his experimental and fragmented writing, which artfully intertwines reality and creation.

1961 – Vikram Chandra, award-winning Indian-born novelist and short-story writer.

1961 – Alojz Ihan, award-winning Slovenian poet, writer, editor, essayist, doctor, microbiologist, and immunologist.

1961 – Florence Noiville, French author, journalist, children’s writer, and biographer who is a long time staff writer for Le Monde and editor of foreign fiction for its literary supplement.

1962 – Stanislav Tsalyk, prolific Ukrainian writer, essayist, television writer, historian, essayist, nonfiction writer, and journalist.

1970 – Sindri Freysson, award-winning Icelandic novelist, poet, and children’s writer.

1971 – Rabelani Dagada, South African author and politician.

1971 – Mohsin Hamid, award-winning, bestselling Pakistani-born novelist, essayist, journalist, and short-story writer.

1973 – Nandini Sahu, award-winning Indian poet, writer, literary critic, editor, and professor who has written about Indian-English literature, American literature, English Language Teaching (ELT), folklore and culture studies, and children’s literature.

.1978 – Lauren Groff, U.S. novelist and short-story writer.

1978 – Milisav Popović, Montenegrin essayist, fantasy novelist, and politician; he was elected director of the National Library of Montenegro.