Author Archives: petrini1

1593 – George Herbert, Welsh poet, orator, and priest who was a key figure in devotional lyrics; he is also associated with metaphysical poetry. 1783 – Washington Irving, influential American author, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat, best known for his short stories, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle.” 1837 – John Burroughs,Continue reading “April 3 Writer Birthdays”

1602 – Mary of Jesus of Ágreda (also known as the Abbess of Ágreda), Franciscan abbess, spiritual writer, and mystic, known especially for her extensive correspondence with King Philip IV of Spain and reports of her bilocation between Spain and its colonies in New Spain; she wrote fourteen books, including a series of revelations aboutContinue reading “April 2 Writer Birthdays”

1647 – John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, British poet and courtier whose work reacted against the “spiritual authoritarianism” of the Puritan era; he was as well known for his rakish lifestyle as for his poetry, although the two were often interlinked. 1868 – Edmund Rostand, French Neo-Romantic poet and dramatist; he is best knownContinue reading “April 1 Writer Birthdays”

1596 – René Descartes, influential French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist whose writings are considered the foundation of modern philosophy. 1823 – Mary Boykin Chestnut, American author from South Carolina known for her published Civil War Diary, which described the war from within her upper-class circles of Southern planter society, but encompassed all classes. 1891 –Continue reading “March 31 Writer Birthdays”

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 worked with horses. 1844 – Paul Verlaine, French poet associated with the Symbolist andContinue reading “March 30 Writer Birthdays”

1831 – Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, prolific British novelist, autobiographer, and teacher, much of whose fiction was set in Scotland and England. 1865 – Stephen Bonsal, Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, war correspondent, author, translator, and diplomat. 1901 – Andrija Maurović, Croatian comic book author and illustrator who is considered the father of Croatian and YugoslavContinue reading “March 29 Writer Birthdays”

1868 – Maxim Gorky, Russian Soviet writer and founder of the Socialist Realism literary movement; he was a four-time nominee for the Nobel Prize. 1887 – Dimcho Debelianov (Димчо Дебелянов), Bulgarian poet 1909 – Nelson Algren, National Book Award-winning American novelist and short-story writer. 1924 – Byrd Baylor, American novelist, essayist, and picture-book author whoseContinue reading “March 28 Writer Birthdays”