1717 – Johann Jakob Baegert, French-born Mexican Jesuit missionary, professor, author, and travel writer who is noted for his detailed and acerbic account of the Baja California peninsula, the culture of its native inhabitants, and the history of Spanish exploration there.
1807 – Johan Sebastian Welhaven, Norwegian writer, poet, playwright, university teacher, literary critic, philosopher, art theorist, and literary historian who is considered one of the key figures in Norwegian literature.
1815 – Ellen Kyle Noel, Irish Canadian novelist who published under the name, Mrs. J.V. Noel.
1823 – Jean-Henri Casimir Fabre, French entomologist and author.
1861 – Sara Jeannette Duncan, Canadian novelist, journalist, poet, and travel writer who also published as Mrs. Everard Cotes, among other names.
1869 – Edwin Arlington Robinson, U.S. poet who won three Pulitzer Prizes for his work.
1876 – Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Italian poet, editor, photographer, writer, art theorist, composer, playwright, and science-fiction author who was the founder of the Futurist movement and was also associated with the Symbolist and Utopian movements.
1900 – Ofelia Uribe de Acosta, Colombian writer, author, journalist, newspaper founder and editor, and suffragist.
1905 – Kenneth Rexroth, U.S. poet and Beat influencer (though he disliked the label) who was a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance.
1907 – Leslie Gilbert Pine, British author, lecturer, editor, and researcher in the areas of genealogy, nobility, history, heraldry, and animal welfare.
1908 – Kosta Apostolov Solev, Macedonian author, poet, and partisan who is considered a founder of modern Macedonian literature; his work addressed themes from history, philosophy, and literature. As a poet, he was primarily known as Koco Racin.
1913 – Jadwiga Apostol-Staniszewska, Polish teacher and writer who was part of the Polish Resistance movement during World War II; she was captured, but survived Auschwitz and other concentration camps.
1914 – Adrian Goodenough Hayter, New Zealand author, soldier, sailor, and Antarctic expedition leader.
1923 – Gloria Escoffery, Jamaican painter, poet, writer, and art critic.
1923 – Demetrio Túpac Yupanqui, Peruvian journalist, author, writer, lawyer, translator, educator, and philosopher.
1926 – Hans Granlid, award-winning Swedish novelist and literary researcher.
1926 – Mohapatra Nilamani Sahoo, award-winning Indian Odia-language short-story writer, novelist, playwright, lecturer, editor, children’s writer, librarian, and translator; his work is characterized by subtle emotion, satire, and verbal as well as situational comedy.
1928 – Barbara Blackman (nee Patterson), award-winning Australian writer, poet, librettist, and patron of the arts.
1930 – Amnon Kapeliouk, Israeli journalist, biographer, and author who is remembered for his coverage of the collapse of the Soviet Union and his interviews with Yasser Arafat.
1930 – Neža Maurer, award-winning Slovene writer, poet, editor, journalist, slavicist, young-adult writer, children’s writer, translator, and opinion journalist.1935 – Tomás Rivera, Chicano author, poet, and educator who was born in Texas to migrant farm workers.
1931 – Carlos Graça, Portuguese writer, politician, and diplomat.
1936 – James Burke, British author, science historian, and television producer.
1937 – Eduard Uspensky, award-winning Russian writer, screenwriter, poet, engineer, playwright, television presenter, film producer, and children’s writer who is best known for the 60 or so cartoon adaptations of his work.
1937 – Charlotte Lamb, pen name of Sheila Ann Mary Coates Holland, prolific British author of romantic fiction who also used the pseudonyms Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Wolf, and Laura Hardy
1939 – Jerry Pinckney, Caldecott Medal-winning U.S. children’s book illustrator.
1942 – Mohammad Salim Al-Awa, Egyptian writer, lawyer, politician, and Islamic philosopher who “courageously delved into the realities of Islamic history and experimented with new interpretations.”
1943 – György Petri, Hungarian poet, writer, journalist, translator, and actor.
1947 – Brian Daley, U.S. science-fiction novelist who is especially known for his Star Wars adaptations.
1949 – Judy Fong Bates, award-winning Chinese-born novelist, nonfiction author, and young-adult writer who is based in Canada.
1951 – Charles de Lint, Canadian author of science fiction, fantasy, magic realism, and mythic figure; popularizer of early urban fantasy.
1953 – Yanick Lahens, award-winning Haitian writer, novelist, short-story writer, teacher, and radio host.
1954 – Maimul Ahsan Khan, Bangladeshi writer, legal scholar, and professor who specializes in jurisprudence; Islamic law; Muslim culture; political science; human rights; and Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Oriental studies.
1955 – Antonella Anedda, award-winning Italian writer, poet, essayist, translator, and university teacher.
1957 – Susan Powter, Australian-born motivational speaker whose “Stop the insanity” was a 1980s catchphrase.
1960 – Antonio Rodríguez Salvador, Cuban poet, fiction writer, dramatist, essayist, professor, and economist who is regarded as one of the outstanding voices in contemporary Latin American fiction.
1960 – Lulu Wang, bestselling Chinese-born novelist and columnist who is based in the Netherlands.
1966 – Nora Okja Keller, Korean-born U.S. author whose breakthrough work of fiction, Comfort Woman, and her second book, Fox Girl, focus on multigenerational trauma resulting from Korean women’s experiences as sex slaves, euphemistically called comfort women, for Japanese and American troops during World War II.
1970 – Ömür Gedik, Turkish writer, journalist, and animal-rights advocate.
1971 – Laksmi Pamuntjak, Indonesian poet, essayist, opinion journalist, and award-winning novelist and food writer.
1986 – Kate Tempest, award-winning British writer, poet, novelist, songwriter, singer, and rapper who was named a Next Generation Poet by the Poetry Book Society.
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